Bruno Lage quizzed on snatching Manu Silva from Wolves clutches

Today at 10:18 AM

Monday’s Portuguese sport newspapers were dominated by one transfer story, and it involved Bruno Lage potentially snatching a signing from the clutches of his former club Wolves.

Bruno Lage didn’t last long as manager of Wolves, arriving in June 2021 and being escorted out in October 2022. He then had a disastrous spell in Brazil with Botafogo and was fortunate to be able to return to Benfica in September of this year.

The manager has landed on his feet and finds himself in a title battle. Sporting CP losing Ruben Amorim to Manchester United saw them have a wobble, and FC Porto have been going through difficulties which culminated in Vitor Bruno being fired at the weekend.

Benfica have benefitted from that and are currently second, three points behind Sporting.

Reports over the weekend stated Wolves had agreed a deal to buy Manu Silva from Vitória de Guimarães. The defensive midfielder was set to cost €10m plus a further €2m in potential bonus payments.

However, before Wolves had a chance to conclude the deal, Benfica arrived with a slightly higher offer and managed to convince Manu Silva he’d be better off with them.

Bruno Lage has today held a press conference ahead of Benfica’s Champions League match against Barcelona on Tuesday. He was inevitably asked about the Manu Silva transfer.

Asked specifically about the move, he instead went off on a tangent and waffled about his own players.

O Jogo quote the manager as saying: “I have a lot of confidence in my players. I’m not going to comment on any market situation. I think it’s important for people to understand that what I want is not starters or substitutes. It’s what Leandro [Barreiro] said, the players have to be ready to play. Florentino lost his place in January in my first spell, but tell me if he played in October, November, December. He got injured on the fourth matchday in Braga, he was injured for a long time, he had a knee problem.

“Tino is another soldier, he’s always ready. What I want is for my players to be ready and available to play, to always feel confident to play and this trust between player and coach comes from what they show in games, in training, in the opportunities they get.”

Does Bruno Lage completely ignoring the question and going off on a tangent suggest the Manu Silva deal isn’t quite as done as suggested and Wolves may have a chance? It’s impossible to know, but certainly one to keep an eye on.

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