Newspapers in Portugal, Italy and England have reported that young Benfica starlet Danilo Pereira is headed to Italy as Milan, Udinese, and Fiorentina are interested. Danilo has ended his contract with the club which means that he will be able to leave on a free transfer. Benfica will still receive some compensation as he is a product of Benfica's youth academies. Per FIFA rules, any time a player leaves, the club that produced him receives a small fee, usually about
150,000$. I am not concerned about the money, the problem is that why is Benfica allowing a player with so much potential to leave the club without giving him a run with the first team.
Danilo has already played with the Portugal under 17, and under 19 teams. He was even named in the list of 11 best players in the European under 19 championships this summer.
He is being compared to a young Claude Makelele, this should give you an idea of how high he is rated. I bet if he had gone to Sporting or even Arsenal as a kid, he would be playing for them already. Its sad that Benfica wastes these players. There are others such as Ruben, Nelson Oliveira, and Abel Pereira. I think its about time we give some of these kids a chance.
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