Benfica’s Carlos Vinicius wins the Portuguese league silver boot with 18 goals

The Brazilian enjoyed a fine debut season with the Eagles and was well deserving of the Bola de Prata award. The Bola de Prata (Silver Ball) is a Primeira Liga award for the top scorer. In case two or more players have the same number of goals, the award goes to the footballer with the fewest games played. This was the […]
2020-07-27 22:23:43

The Brazilian enjoyed a fine debut season with the Eagles and was well deserving of the Bola de Prata award.

The Bola de Prata (Silver Ball) is a Primeira Liga award for the top scorer. In case two or more players have the same number of goals, the award goes to the footballer with the fewest games played. This was the case on this occasion as Vinicius was joint on 18 goals with teammate Pizzi.

However, the 25-year-old played about 1040 minutes less than Pizzi and was thus handed the award. Despite all of their goals, it was not enough for Benfica to retain their title as Porto raced to their second domestic crown in three seasons.

In all competitions, Vinicus’ record is 20 goals in 36 games plus 12 assists. That means he has contributed to nearly a goal per game with those stats.

The 25-year-old is thriving at Benfica after a summer move from Napoli. He never played a game in Italy, being sent out on loan instead to Rio Ave and Monaco.

His brilliant performances have already alerted a number of European sides with Manchester United reported to be monitoring his contract situation.

The Daily Mail report that Benfica have a whopping £88 million release clase in Vinicius’ contract (100 million Euros). United are said to be trying to negotiate a far cheaper deal.

While this is the best season of Vinicius’ career, he is no one season wonder in any way.  So far, he has 56 career goals in 110 games, plus a further 22 assists.