Benfica have earned almost £1bn from transfers in last decade as Man Utd eye Darwin Nunez

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Benfica will bring their total expenditure past the £1billion mark if they sell £60million rated Manchester United target Darwin Nunez. Having sold the likes of Joao Felix, Ruben Dias and many more for enormous profits, the Portuguese giants have entrenched themselves as one of the best player development clubs in Europe.

They have raked in a jaw-dropping £962m since the 2011-12 campaign: a figure only beaten by Chelsea. The Blues’ focus on developing young talent at their Cobham training ground, that is either integrated into the first team or, more likely, sold on for huge profits has seen them register an income of £977.05m.

But unlike Benfica, the West Londoners’ income is completely overwhelmed by their eye-watering £1.42bn expenditure of the last ten years. In contrast, the Liga Portuguese side have only reinvested £419.30m of their expenditure into new signings.

Nunez is the perfect example of Benfica’s philosophy at work, as they poached him from La Liga side Almeria for £21.6m in the summer of 2020. However, he could soon be sold for nearly three times the figure Benfica paid, taking the Portuguese side’s expenditure to well over £1bn according to Transfermarkt.

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Nunez is currently asserting himself as one of the top centre-forwards in the world. The Uruguayan ace has amassed a terrifying 31 goals in 36 appearances in all competitions for Nelson Verissimo’s side.

United are expected to be at the front of the queue for the 22-year-old’s signature when the summer transfer window reopens in July. Fabrizio Romano understands Nunez could be available for around £66.8m if he does depart the Estadio da Luz at the end of the season.

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This fee would see him take his place as Benfica’s second most expensive departure in their history. The illustrious record of being the most expensive player in Benfica history lies with Atletico Madrid starlet Felix.

Diego Simeone’s side paid an extraordinary £114.5m to sign the attacking midfielder when he was only 19 years old. Felix’s regular inconsistency under the reigning La Liga champions has only further conveyed the astounding business they were able to pull off.

But while Nunez is being pursued by United, he is certainly not the first Benfica player to be hunted by a Premier League giant. City paid a whopping £61.2m to sign defensive rock Ruben Dias last season.

They also paid £36m for goalkeeping sensation Ederson, who has become one of the best goalkeepers in the world under Pep Guardiola. Both former Benfica aces have virtually proven to be undroppable for the Citizens ever since their respective arrivals in 2017 and 2020.

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