Middlesbrough must regret missing out on £10m deal for Benfica man | OneFootball

Rafa Silva was linked with a move to Teesside back in the summer of 2018.

Middlesbrough were linked with a potential £10m move for Benfica star Rafa Silva back in the summer of 2018.

Having failed to win promotion back to the Premier League following their relegation in 2017, Tony Pulis was looking to put the final touches on his squad ahead of the August transfer deadline in order to have another crack at reclaiming their place in the top flight for the 2018/19 season.

Sizeable fees were spent to bring Aden Flint and Paddy McNair to the Riverside Stadium, whilst Jordan Hugill, Muhamed Besic, Danny Batth and Sam McQueen all made loan moves from the Premier League to join the Teessiders.

But was there still time for a late arrival? According to The Sun via Teesside Live, Boro were understood to be lining up a loan swoop with a view to a £10m permanent transfer the following summer for Benfica winger Rafa Silva.

No deal ever materialised, however, and what the Portuguese forward would go on to achieve with Benfica would leave Middlesbrough with a major 'what if?' moment.

Rafa Silva develops into one of European football's most prolific forwards with Benfica

Having arrived from Braga in the summer of 2016, Silva's Benfica career didn't immediately burst into life. Having scored just two goals and provided four assists in 31 total appearances in his debut season with the Lisbon-based side, he would follow that up with three goals and four assists in 24 appearances during the 2017/18 campaign.

Predominantly playing a squad role with As Águias (The Eagles) come the summer of 2018, there were question marks over his long-term future at the Estádio da Luz.

However, - in what is no doubt a huge sliding door moment in his career - with no transfer materialising for Silva that summer, he would bank on himself to earn a starting role with the Portuguese giants.

That's precisely what he did, scoring 20 goals and providing two assists in 43 total appearances during Benfica's title-winning 2018/19 season.

Five more seasons would follow for Silva as a Benfica star, with four of those campaigns bringing double-figure goal returns of 11, 12, and 14, before saving his best season in a red and white shirt until last, scoring 22 times and providing 15 assists in 52 total appearances in the 2023/24 season.

Silva signed for Turkish giants Besiktas in July 2024 on a free transfer following the expiration of his contract with Benfica. Twice he would lead the Liga Portugal in assists (2023/24 - 12, 2021/22 - 15), and would leave Portuguese football with a legacy as one of the league's best attacking players during his time there.

He would also claim numerous international caps for Portugal too, having been part of the Euro 2016 winning squad, as well as the Euro 2020 side that reached the Round of 16.

Rafa Silva could've filled the void Adama Traore left in the Middlesbrough team

Middlesbrough saw their own electric wide player Adama Traore depart the club in the summer of 2018, after Wolverhampton Wanderers triggered his £18m release clause.

The Spaniard had just recorded one of the most impressive seasons by a Boro winger in many years during the 2017/18 campaign, scoring five goals and providing 13 assists in 40 total appearances.

His blistering pace, power, skill and long-awaited end product saw him tear the Championship apart that season, such was the size of the attacking and creative void he left in the squad upon his departure.

Capable of playing anywhere across the forward line, Silva could've been the ideal player to pick up the baton from Traore, with his hugely impressive numbers during his Benfica career suggesting he too would've been a class above in the second tier of English football.

Completing a deal for Silva always had the feel of being a highly ambitious one even at the time, but Middlesbrough obviously felt they were in with a decent enough chance to capture his signature.

Had they done so, a player of his quality in the Championship may well have ensured the return of Premier League football on Teesside once again. It wasn't to be though, but if Boro's interest was indeed concrete at the time, then he's certainly one that got away from the Teessiders.