Fernandez, Nunez, Felix: Benfica's insane XI of sold players worth €600m | OneFootball

Benfica are truly masters of the transfer market.

In an age where transfer fees have been inflated beyond belief and even the most inexperienced players can command sizeable price tags, the Portuguese giants have taken full advantage.

In recent years, a plethora of big names have played for the Eagles, including the likes of Bernardo Silva, João Cancelo and Jan Oblak.

Yet, while these players all secured big moves to other European sides, none of them feature in Benfica’s top 30 record transfer sales this century.

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Remarkably, Benfica’s outgoing transfers since 2000 have actually netted them more than €1.5 billion — that’s more than the majority of clubs have made in their history.

In honour of Benfica’s incredible era of transfers, we’ve put together a team of their most expensive sales ever.

Featuring an Argentine legend, two Premier League winners and a couple of Chelsea’s newest recruits – this XI is absolutely stacked with talent.

Soccer Football - Primeira Liga - Benfica v Arouca - Estadio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal - August 5, 2022 Benfica's Enzo Fernandez celebrates scoring their third goal REUTERS/Pedro Nunes

Benfica’s most expensive sales XI

Using the information supplied by Transfermarkt, we’ve assembled an ex-Benfica team that were sold for more than €600m.

Check it out below:

GK: Ederson - €40m (Man City)RB: Nélson Semedo - €35.7m (Barcelona)CB: Rúben Dias - €71.6m (Man City)CB: Victor Lindelöf - €35m (Man United)LB: Fábio Coentrão - €30m (Real Madrid)CDM: Axel Witsel - €40m (Zenit)CM: Enzo Fernández - €121m (Chelsea)CM: Renato Sanches - €35m (Bayern Munich)RW: Ángel Di María- €33m (Real Madrid) LW: Darwin Núñez - €80m (Liverpool)ST: João Felix - €127m (Atletico Madrid)

Benfica’s insane transfer history

As you can see from this side, Benfica’s transfer strategy is clearly one of the best in the business.

Not only have they managed to continually identify a number of rising stars, but they’ve nurtured many of them into world-class players.

Both Ederson and Dias have gone on to be hugely influential at Man City – winning multiple trophies under Pep Guardiola’s tutelage.

The same cannot be said for Lindelöf, however, with the Swedish centre-back yet to claim any silverware with the Red Devils.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 05: Ederson of Manchester City looks on during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Fulham at Etihad Stadium on December 05, 2020 in Manchester, England. The match will be played without fans, behind closed doors as a Covid-19 precaution. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Semedo and Coentrão both enjoyed successful stints in Spain for Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.

Witsel was one of many players tempted by the lure of a lucrative contract to play in Russia and ended up staying for five seasons.

As for Sanches, the Portuguese midfielder was one of the hottest properties in Europe while at Benfica - but after signing for Bayern, he somehow found himself on loan at Swansea.

Fernández is the most recent of the signings on this list, having been snapped up by Todd Boehly’s Chelsea for a monster price. Given Benfica only signed the Argentine last summer, the size of this transfer fee is even more staggering.

In terms of the forwards, Di María’s exceptional career needs little explanation, while Felix and Núñez still have time to write their names into the history books. Both players are now plying their trade in the Premier League but have faced a difficult start to life in the top flight.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 12: Joao Felix of Chelsea looks on during the Premier League match between Fulham FC and Chelsea FC at Craven Cottage on January 12, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Will Benfica’s impressive outgoings continue?

Despite the departure of Fernández, Benfica still boasts some exceptionally gifted players, not least Portuguese striker Gonçalo Ramos.

The 21-year-old scored a hat-trick for Portugal against Switzerland at the Word Cup and with plenty of clubs already lining up a move for the forward, this summer could see Benfica rake in even more money.