Rui Costa wants Di María for another year at Benfica

The desire to not just stop there in a relationship with a “master” whose salary “is within the salary ceiling”


Rui Costa dreams of extending the one-year contract he signed with Ángel Di María . The revelation was made in an interview given this Tuesday on BTV.

“He signed for a season, but let’s see, I hope to convince him to do something more”, he said, making several revelations regarding the negotiations with the Argentine.


«I’m going to reveal a secret: he signed a contract a month before performing at the Estádio da Luz . There was a possibility of him representing Benfica last year, but Juventus appeared and offered a salary that we couldn’t get close to. And it was in his mind to try out the Italian championship after having been in England , Spain and France ,” said the president of the Reds.
I heard that I would get a signing bonus of €10 million plus €5 million in net annual salary, which would make a transaction worth €20 million. It would be crazy

And it didn’t stop there: «He didn’t want to hear anything else from the moment he knew we wanted to have him here. We heard a lot at that time about what he would win at Benfica and I think it wasn’t fair for him. He comes to Benfica without exceeding the salary cap. I heard he would get a signing bonus of €10 million plus a €5 million net annual salary, which would make a transaction worth €20 million. It would be crazy.”


The world champion returned to Luz on the basis of his word, said Rui Costa. “He didn’t want to know what the salary cap was. I take my word for it, that those were the maximum and he didn’t even haggle a euro. His coming is ‘I want to come back, what you can give is what I will receive’. We have to do justice to this gentleman and it’s a joy to see the pleasure he has in playing with this shirt.”

“I hope to convince him of something more.”
Would it be good for Benfica if Di María stayed?