Five academy players in the first team pre-season

The defenders Pedro Álvaro (19 years) and Nuno Tavares (19), the midfielders David Tavares (20), Tiago Dantas (18) and Nuno Santos (20), all academy graduates, will start the pre-season works on July 1 with Benfica’s first football team.

Pedro Álvaro is one of the "five trumps" nurtured at Caixa Futebol Campus called-up by Bruno Lage for the preparation of the upcoming season. At the age of 19 (02.03.2000), comes from a season in which he played for the U-19s (21 matches), B team (9) and U-23 (9).

Nuno Tavares joins Pedro Álvaro. The 19-year-old left-back (26.01.2000) will start his fifth season playing for Benfica, where he arrived in 2015/16 coming from Casa Pia. In 2018/19, the left-footed player totaled more than 3000 minutes (39 matches): UEFA Youth League (7), Premier League International Cup (1), U-19 National Championship (16), Liga Revelação (3) and 2^nd Division (12).

For David Tavares (19.03.1999) the call-up to carry out the pre-season with the first team is not something entirely new. One year ago, the young midfielder, who joined the Club in 2016/17, he was one of the new faces present in the first days of Benfica's preparation for the new season.

Tiago Dantas joins this list (24.12.2000). "Made in Benfica", a team he joined at the age of four, he went through all the Club’s youth ranks, racking up one U-19 national title and four district titles (for the U-11s, U-13s, U-15s, and U-17s). He started playing at the B team in 2018/19, with a home win over Leixões. Until the end of the season, he made more 46 appearances (a total of 3347 minutes): UEFA Youth League (7), Premier League International Cup (1), U-19 National Championship (18) and 2^nd Division (21).

Rounding off the quintet, Nuno Santos (02.03.1999). In 2018/19, he proved to be important in the UEFA Youth League campaign (five goals in seven matches), but it was in the B team that he stood out as a regular option (30 matches).

The preparation works for 2019/20 start on the first day of July with the usual medicals and physical tests. The team led by Bruno Lage will carry out two friendly matches in Portugal before the trip to the United States of America, where they will participate in the International Champions Cup. 

Text: Filipa Fernandes Garcia

Pics: Archive / SL Benfica