Messi’s friend: Vieira wanted me at Benfica, even wrote a letter | OneFootball

Maxi López, the former Argentine forward, revealed in an interview given to the podcast 'Afterpostunited' that in 2005, before heading to Barcelona, he was very close to signing with Benfica. The friend of Lionel Messi even revealed that when he decided to transfer to Catalonia, he received a letter from Luís Filipe Vieira, trying to convince him to choose the Clube da Luz.

"Throughout the entire pre-season, I was sold to Benfica. All the newspapers, all the television programs about football, sports and non-sports, said that I would live in Portugal and that everything was settled with Benfica, that they had made an offer. The saga lasted about 15/20 days. During pre-season, I thought: 'I will work on the mental part, Benfica is a club that develops players, it could be a good step'," he began to say.

Maxi López revealed how the whole process went: "I remember that my agent at the time told me: 'Don't rush because we are working on something else.' He didn't tell me anything, I was in pre-season in another city... If it were in the same city, I would grab him and 'eat him alive' because he wasn't telling me anything and I was nervous. I said: 'Well, it's going to completely change my life'." I remember that in the last days, Barcelona appeared. Of course, they started calling me, the coach, the sporting director, the president of Benfica."

"The president of Benfica wrote me a huge letter explaining why it was better to go to Portugal and play for Benfica and, in fact, I still have it with me today, it was handwritten, that is, written by him. What happens is that when a team like Barcelona comes along, you can't say no, and in the last days, they made the offer and I went to Barcelona," he concluded.

The Argentine ended up not succeeding in Barcelona and, in two years, played only 19 games and scored two goals. Maxi López went through several clubs in Europe and stood out more in Italy. Benfica, without him, also did not win the championship until 2009/10, when Luís Filipe Vieira hired Jorge Jesus from Braga. Now, the former president is running for office again.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.