Have you ever watched someone deliberately choose the harder path when the easier one was right there? That is what Marco Silva did this week.
Genuinely speaking. You think about it. What kind of man turns down double his salary? One who has something to prove. And Marco Silva has everything to prove at Benfica.
Fulham reportedly offered him £8 million a year to stay. On a three-year contract. With them, he had security, familiarity and a squad he built himself.
Benfica however came with £4 million and a fanbase that will not accept third place in their own league as a reasonable outcome. Yet he chose them.
The five years he spent at Craven Cottage were genuinely impressive. He had a Championship title with 110 goals in a single season. He also got Fulham back in the Premier League and staying there. He never Never finished below 13th in the league. He also led them
to their first ever League Cup semi-final.
He literally turned a yo-yo club into a reliable top half side and did it without drama or noise. You may not understand. But that is harder than it looks.
But impressive and historic are different things. Silva has never managed at a club where winning trophies is the baseline expectation rather than the aspiration.
He will be replacing Jose Mourinho at the Estadio da Luz, with Benfica having finished thi in the Primeira Liga last season. Third place at Benfica is not a foundation to build on. It is a problem to fix immediately.
He has been building a house near Lisbon for two years. This was always the destination. The comfort of Fulham was never going to be enough for a man who left Portugal to prove himself and now wants to come home and prove something different entirely.
Legacy costs more than salary. Silva just paid the price willingly. We will see if he gets the prize.
My name is Ajoje. I am a FIFA Licensed Agent and International Sports Lawyer. I write on the Law and Business of Football, a lot. Repost and Follow if you want to read more posts like this.
I want to personally sponsor 20 young farmers who want to do dry season Tomato farming this year.
1. Your land should be cleared and ready by September.
2. Your minimum land size should be 2 acres and maximum 20 acres.
3. The support will be input based. Tractor services, fertilizer, seeds, agricultural extension services, weeds and pests control, irrigation systems and ready market for the tomatoes.
This is a personal pilot project and hopefully we can collectively cultivate over 400 acres of tomatoes this year during the dry season. Together let’s make this work. #idey4u
Dear West Ham, take note before it's too late.
Man United have been linked and sniffing around Mateus Fernandes... but you're already slapping an insane £84m valuation on a guy you bought for £42m last summer. Rumours say you'll settle between £60-70m if things go south.
Don't be greedy like Newcastle with Isak, Brighton with Baleba, Ferguson, Mitoma and the others. Overprice him, watch him sit there while you fight relegation, and then scramble to sell at a discount anyway.
Learn from the flops around you or end up exactly like them. Your move, Hammers.
Ah, is it the same Bra Kofi we know? Sorting Manager Bra Kofi? Bra Kofi wey he dey ron boys gigs without ever taking credit? Bra Kofi the fixer extraordinaire? Bra Kofi wey if he call you den e mean say cash dey come? Bra Kofi "let me see what I can do"? Eiii.
It is well. 🙏🏿
We have not. But have experienced him not being broke when they met. We have experienced him giving her a job. We have experienced her sitting in his office as a trainee with zero. We have experienced him taking her on assignments abroad when she wasn’t even a journo
I feel like we really fumbled azonto. That whole dance and music had a huge ceiling but we simply fumbled it. If we really have a way to bring it back, we should