"Daily Mail" highlights SL Benfica's academy system

Before Portugal makes its debut against Hungary in the 2020 European Championship, the British newspaper "Daily Mail" highlighted Sport Lisboa e Benfica's youth development.

The "Daily Mail" spoke with Nélson Veríssimo, coach of the Club's B team, and Pedro Marques, technical director of the Benfica Campus.

The Benfica B coach highlighted the confidence of Rúben Dias (one of the pillars of the National Team), who always believed and had "the strong conviction that he would play in the first team".

About Bernardo Silva [in the photo below] and João Cancelo, Nélson Veríssimo remembered the influence that these two names have in the projection of the Club's academy system since to the fact that they play in Manchester City and the Premier League.

"They left for good clubs. This also values the 'Made in Benfica' brand and our youth development project", he recognized.

The "Daily Mail" writes that "four of Benfica's last five major transfers have involved academy graduates: Rúben Dias [Manchester City], João Félix [Atletico Madrid], Renato Sanches [Bayern Munich] and Ederson [Manchester City]".

" We try to instill emotion, Benfica is the biggest in Portugal. It's important that the players grow with that feeling. They are representing a lot of people", emphasized Pedro Marques, technical director of Benfica Campus.

"We're different. We develop them in different positions. We want them to be adaptable", claimed Pedro Marques.

In addition to the names mentioned in the "Daily Mail" – João Cancelo, Rúben Dias, Renato Sanches, Bernardo Silva and João Félix –, Nélson Semedo, Danilo andGonçalo Guedes were also nurtured at Benfica and are representing the Portuguese National team.