The Djavan Episode

There has been much speculation with regard to the signing by Benfica of Academica's left back Djavan.  He is a solid left back and would likely get playing time had he stayed on the squad.  Now with the departure of Siqueira and the uncertainty around whether or not Silvio will remain with Benfica the club had to start from zero at that position.

Coach Jorge Jesus had long craved to have Malaga's LB Eliseu on the team but it had not materialized. So Djavan, an experienced LB who played in the Portuguese first division was a smart signing as he would not need an adaptation period for the type of play in Portugal.  Benito was also added as a young backup who could be worked and stay on the club if enough quality was shown or be loaned out for a year to develop further.

Of course, the eye was never taken off the ball with respect to Eliseu, and if he could be signed he would be.  So the question becomes, why not wait until the outcome with Eliseu was known before signing Djavan?  Here is the answer:  so that Sporting CP could not sign him.

Sporting CP is not really strong at many positions, but it certainly isn't strong at LB.  Jefferson is not the left back to hang your hopes on if you plan to compete for a title.  Djavan would at least provide as much quality if not more and he would be relatively affordable.  So why make things easy for Sporting.  For a relatively small investment you can force them to go outside the Portuguese league to sign a replacement and that new player may have trouble adapting to the portuguese style of play, weather conditions, turf conditions in many of the teams, etc.

In that sense it was strategic as it was a logical and affordable choice for the rival to sign.  Pre-empting them was a smart move.  Transfering him to Braga was also a smart move as it strengthens a team that is likely to take points from Porto and Sporting.  I would not be surprised if there was some sort of clause in the deal that prevents Djavan from playing against Benfica either.

Presumptively the club incurred no financial loss as it would defy logic if he was transferred for less than he was bought for.  So in effect, Benfica got to control his destiny by buying him early.  This is an approach that I applaud and think should be continued.  Teams like Sporting and Porto tend to seek to address their needs with some of the top players at their respective positions on other first division clubs.  Benfica pre-empting them to control the destiny of those players and not allow them to reinforce rivals is good strategic and business sense and it should be a policy that continues to be pursued.

So yes it does look odd on the surface, but when you scratch beneath you find that there is sometimes order in chaos.