Edinson Cavani has snubbed Leeds United as he has agreed to join Portuguese club Benfica on a deal which would earn him £8.1
million-a-year. The 33-year-old Uruguayan striker was initially linked with a move to newly-promoted Premier League club Leeds but the deal didn’t advance beyond speculation.
Leeds United have been very active in the transfer market. The Premier League club has been in search of players to add to the team in order to be competitive when the 2020-2021 football season resumes in September. Hence, Edinson Cavani was one of the first set of players the Premier League club was linked with this summer.
Cavani was allowed to leave French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint Germain on the first of July after PSG failed to extend his contract. Since then, Uruguayan striker has been without a club until he reportedly agreed on a deal with Benfica as a free agent.
According to reports, the former PSG and Napoli star would earn at least £155,000 a week at Benfica which is far below what he was earning at PSG. While at the French club, he reportedly earns about £320,000 per-week.
Though Benfica has not officially confirmed that Edinson Cavani has joined the Portuguese club, the club’s manager Jorge Jesus has earlier hinted that the club is interested in the 33-year-old football star.
He said: “Cavani is another story. He doesn’t need me to call, he is a player who must have several market possibilities and must be thinking about options.
“When we arrived I didn’t ask him. If you ask me if I want to? Who doesn’t? Not only for Benfica but for Portuguese football.”
The football journey of Edinson Cavani
Edinson Cavani signed his first professional football contract with an Uruguayan association football club Danubio in 2005. After two years of professional football in his home country, the football star moved to an Italian Serie A club, Palermo in 2007. He could not win any major title with the club until he left in 2011.
Before then, Cavani spent a year on loan at Napoli and was convincing enough to merit a permanent deal. He signed a permanent deal with Napoli in 2011 and won Coppa Italia with them during the 2011-2012 season. His performance at Napoli attracted the attention of French giants Paris Saint Germain and they decided to sign him on 16 July 2013 for a then French transfer record worth about €64 million.
Cavani spent 7 years at the club before he was allowed to go as a free agent. Before then, he became the all-time highest goalscorer of the club in January 2018 when he scored his 157th goal.
More so, in his seven years stay at the club, the Uruguayan striker helped the French club to win six Ligue 1 championships, five Coupes de la Ligue, and four Coupes de France. He also earned two golden boot as French league highest scorer in 2016–2017 and 2017–18 seasons and won the league player of the year in 2016–2017 season.
For his country, the former PSG talisman won one Copa América for Uruguay in 2011 and went on to make 116 appearances and scored 50 goals for his country’s senior national team. Altogether, the football legend has scored 341 goals for the three major clubs he has played for and has made 65 assists in 556 appearances.
