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Rafa Silva was an unused substitute for Besiktas in this Saturday’s game against Rizspor (1-0), after several weeks away, first in training and then in games.
The 32-year-old Portuguese striker wants to leave and remains in conflict at the Istanbul club, despite his return to the squad, which did not go well — he was whistled by the fans during the warm-up and at the end of the match the Besiktas coach, Sergen Yalçin, in a press conference harshly criticized the player.
«I don’t want to talk too much about Rafa, but the same topic comes to us and I have to talk. Do you think he’s training? He is training to fulfill his contract. If I had to give him a rating from zero to ten for his training, it would be zero! Even for the athlete’s health, it would be unwise to have him play. It’s out of the question. There’s nothing we can do, just evaluate. I don’t know if he’ll stay here. If you are the most expensive player on the team, but you don’t want to help me, what can I do? If he trains like a football player, we will open the door. In the current situation, it is not possible to keep the door open for Rafa”, says the coach, questioned about the fact that he did not launch the Portuguese on the field.
«The bomb exploded in our hands when we didn’t expect it: Rafa Silva. The bomb exploded in my hand when I was trying to assure the fans that there was no problem, that we weren’t going to lose the player, to be happy with him…”, lamented Sergen about Rafa Silva, who this season has 5 goals and 3 assists in 16 games for Besiktas.
Rafa wants to leave and this seems to be the increasingly likely outcome, despite Besiktas resisting the scenario and wanting to collect the 15 million euros from the termination clause in the player’s contract, which is valid until 2027.
Benfica, as A BOLA has already detailed, follows the process and admits trying to sign as long as Rafa Silva is released and expresses his desire to return to Portuguese football.