We all know that some transfers turn out well for all parties involved, but there are plenty where at least one of the clubs, or even the player, are left wondering what might have been had they made a different decision while at the negotiating table.
For some football fans, the off-season is the part of the calendar that they look forward to the most, as that can only mean one thing: It’s time for transfers! Over the next weeks and months, the biggest names will be linked with the biggest clubs, with speculation set to go into overdrive.
Benfica have done it again! Having already sold Darwin Nunez and Enzo Fernandez during the past year for exorbitant fees, Benfica have repeated the trick with Ramos. The only difference here is that Ramos didn’t cost The Eagles a single cent – the striker came through the youth academy and then the B team – so this is all profit. The challenge now, of course, is replacing the 27 goals Ramos hit in all competitions last season, but it’s nothing Benfica haven’t faced before. Remember, we’re talking about a club that has made more than €1.5 billion on player sales since the turn of the century. Grade: A+
As for PSG a move to make Kylian Mbappe happy, right?… The winger was desperate for the club to sign him a No.9 to play off last summer, but his plea fell on deaf ears and the team could certainly have done with a more orthodox centre-forward at times. Mbappe, of course, is still set to leave the Parc des Princes, but Ramos undoubtedly has the potential to help fill the massive void the France international will leave behind. As the Portugal international showed during the World Cup, he can finish, he is mobile and he can cope with immense amounts of pressure, having scoredt a hat-trick having been given the unenviable task of replacing Cristiano Ronaldo in the Seleccao’s starting line-up. Grade: B+
While Ramos on the other hand deserves to move to a club with sufficient resources to truly challenge for the Champions League. Benfica are a far better-run club than PSG, of course, but as the past year has underlined, they are constantly forced to sell their best players. So, while the Parc des Princes is currently shrouded in uncertainty, it does provide Ramos with a platform to prove himself a world-class striker. The 22-year-old certainly appears to have the kind of varied skillset that should enable him to thrive under Luis Enrique.
