Nothing materialised, and this term he has enjoyed life in Liga Portugal with two goals from 20 appearances. Although he is primarily a defensive midfielder he is an exciting box-to-box ace.
His talents include regularly collecting the ball from a deep position, making short passes to retain possession. So Luis could slot into the Juventus squad with ease if interim appointment Igor Tudor is promoted to head coach.
Luis is a creative talent who has operated as a dynamic duo or as an anchor at the base of a midfield trio. His versatility at Benfica, which includes dropping back into a defensive position whenever they lose possession, is a manager’s dream.
Yet the club, who are battling it out with Sporting Lisbon for the league title, are willing to let Luis leave for around €35 million (US$37.75m).
Luis loaned out
The Angola-born ace has risen through the ranks since joining the Lisbon outfit’s youth academy in 2010. He cut his teeth in the Benfica B side and got elevated to the senior side in 2019.
But after Jorge Jesus took the reins following the sacking of head coach Bruno Lage in August 2020, Luis requested to be sent out on loan. He went to AS Monaco but only made two starts in 11 appearances.
The following campaign he moved to La Liga with Getafe on a season-long loan with an option to buy for €10m (US$10.8m). Manager Michel was given the boot after failing to win in the opening eight matches of the season and the club rooted to the foot of the table.
With the appointment of Quique Sanchez Flores as head coach, Luis swiftly fell out of favour. His spell at relegation-threatened resulted in just eight starting berths in a total of 24 appearances, with the Spanish side happy to ship Luis back to Benfica.
He made 33 Liga Portugal outings during the 2022/23 campaign, and played 30 league matches the following season, although the club were still keen to capitalize on making a healthy profit by selling Luis.
Project Motta mistakes
Thiago Motta’s ill-fated midfield revamp included shipping out Nicolo Fagioli, who has been sensational on his loan at Fiorentina. He came through the ranks at Juve, and now Fiorentina have a conditional obligation to buy
Project Motta also forked out big bucks on Teun Koopmeiners and Douglas Luiz. Dutch star Koopmeiners has been dismal, and even Tudor criticized him after just one match.
Brazil international Luiz has experienced an injury–ravaged season with the Turin titans, and for the right price could be offloaded back to the Premier League in the summer.
Luis’ skill set is similar to Manuel Locatelli so he would enhance Juve’s midfield if Tudor, who is on a short-term deal to tackle the last nine Serie A games and the 2025 FIFA Club World Cups finals that kick off in mid-June, taking the reins for next season.