The 21-year-old holding player moved to Portugal from Flamengo in January 2010 and played 27 times last season. However, he only made 15 appearances in the league, starting just seven times, and says he wants to play more often.
PortuGOAL.net quotes him as saying: “The only thing I want to do is play, as I didn’t play last season.”
Luiz Augusto Veloso, a director at Flamengo, confirmed that the deal was almost finished. “The deal with Benfica is done,” he said. “We’re negotiating with Airton himself. At any moment I expect this to be completed.”