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Benfica have built a legacy as the most successful club in Portugal as well as being a home for young talent to establish themselves in Europe.
Notably, Joao Felix and Enzo Fernandez have left Benfica for monumental transfer fees, but they are not the only examples, for the club regularly bring in huge profits on talented youngsters.
With excellent scouting and an incredible youth academy, the Lisbon giants have become one of Europe’s best selling clubs.
Below, FootballTransfers takes a look at the 10 biggest sales Benfica have made.
10. Axel Witsel – €40m (to Zenit, 2012)
Axel Witsel had only been at Benfica for one year before Zenit St Petersburg activated his €40m release clause to bring him to Russia.
The Belgium international joined Benfica from Standard Liege for €10m in 2011 and made 32 league appearances in his sole season at the club, scoring once.
Witsel spent five years at Zenit and had a brief spell in China before joining Borussia Dortmund in 2018 and then Atletico Madrid in 2022.
9. Ederson – €40m (to Man City, 2017)
Manchester City signed Ederson from Benfica for €40m in 2017, which made him the world’s second-most expensive goalkeeper at the time.
The Brazilian led Benfica to the league title in his two seasons at the club and was named Portugal’s Goalkeeper of the Year during his first campaign in Lisbon.
He won six Premier League titles in eight years at City and helped Pep Guardiola’s side to Champions League glory in 2023. He then left for Fenerbahce in 2025.
8. Marcos Leonardo – €40m (to Al-Hilal, 2024)
Benfica signed Marcos Leonardo as a prolific young forward from Santos in January 2024. Just a few months later, the Brazilian was on the move again.
In the summer of 2024, Saudi giants Al-Hilal offered to pay €40m for the attacker, and the proposal was deemed too good to turn down by the Benfica hierarchy.
Leonardo continued his prolific form in the Middle East and was linked with a move to La Liga giants Atletico Madrid in January 2026.
7. Alvaro Carreras – €50m (to Real Madrid, 2025)
Alvaro Carreras was on the books at Real Madrid and Manchester United as a youngster, but it wasn’t until he joined Benfica on an initial loan that he really lived up to his potential.
The Lisbon side exercised their €14.3m purchase option in the summer of 2024 and then flipped the left-back for a sizeable profit to former club Real a year later.
Los Blancos triggered a €50m release clause to bring him back to the Bernabeu.
6. Goncalo Ramos – €65m (to PSG, 2024)
A product of Benfica’s famed academy, Goncalo Ramos became a prolific striker for the first team in the early 2020s and attracted widespread attention.
He was frequently linked with the Premier League, but PSG ultimately snapped him up on an initial loan in the summer of 2023 before signing him permanently in 2024.
However, after Ramos lost his place in the PSG starting XI to Ousmane Dembele, he left the French capital to join Serie A heavyweights AC Milan in the summer of 2026.
5. Joao Neves – €65.9m (to PSG, 2024)
Six months after Ramos joined PSG, another Benfica academy product followed suit, moving to Paris for just €900,000 more.
That player was Joao Neves, who had experienced a rapid rise to prominence following his breakthrough at Benfica in January 2023.
A cultured yet combative midfielder, Neves was heavily linked with Man Utd before PSG swooped in and signed him in the summer of 2024.
The Portugal international immediately became a crucial player and won the Champions League with the Parisians in 2025 and 2026.
4. Ruben Dias – €71.6m (to Man City, 2020)
Ruben Dias established himself as one of the best defenders in Europe at Benfica, and he has only enhanced that reputation at Man City.
Dias was at the heart of Benfica’s defence for three seasons, winning the league once, before he joined the English side for €71.6m in the summer of 2020.
The Portugal centre-back was named as City’s Player of the Year in his first season and helped Pep Guardiola’s side to a memorable treble in 2023.
3. Darwin Nunez – €85m (to Liverpool, 2022)
Darwin Nunez’s departure to Liverpool in the summer of 2022 represented the second biggest sale in Benfica’s history at the time.
The Uruguayan was prolific in 2021-22, scoring 34 goals in 41 games, including two in the Champions League quarter-finals against the Reds.
Nunez had arrived from Almeria in 2020 as Benfica’s record signing at €24m, and although he failed to win the league title during his two seasons in Portugal, his move was a success given the profit they were able to turn on him.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to keep up his scoring form in England.
Nunez became a bit of a meme in the Premier League due to his poor finishing and he was soon sold to Al-Hilal for €53m in 2025.
After just six months in Saudi Arabia, he was de-registered by the Riyadh club for the Pro League to make room for Karim Benzema.
2. Enzo Fernandez – €121m (to Chelsea, 2023)
Benfica continued their incredible business in 2022-23 by following up the sale of Nunez to Liverpool with that of Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea in January 2023.
The Portuguese club had only signed Fernandez six months earlier from River Plate for a fee that has risen to €44.3m, due to a sell-on clause, so this represented an incredible profit.
Fernandez impressed during his six months at Benfica and also shone at the 2022 World Cup, winning the Young Player of the Tournament award as Argentina lifted the trophy.
However, offloading Fernandez for €121m represented brilliant business by Benfica, though it somehow isn’t the biggest sale in their illustrious history.
1. Joao Felix – €127.2m (to Atletico Madrid, 2019)
The sale of Joao Felix to Atletico Madrid in 2019 is not only the biggest fee ever received by Benfica but also the sixth-highest sum ever paid for a player by any club.
The Portugal forward had only played one season in Benfica’s first team – scoring 15 times in 26 games – before Atletico agreed a deal worth €127.2m to bring him to Spain, the second-highest fee for a teenager behind Kylian Mbappe.
Felix won La Liga in his second season with Atletico but never truly found a place under Diego Simeone. After loans with Chelsea and Barcelona, he was sold to the Blues permanently in 2024.
Six months into his return, Chelsea quickly loaned Felix to AC Milan, where he again failed to impress. And then he was sold to Al-Nassr for €35m in the summer of 2025.
The 10 biggest Benfica sales of all time
| Player | To | Fee | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Joao Felix | Atletico Madrid | €127.2m | 2019 |
| 2. Enzo Fernandez | Chelsea | €121m | 2023 |
| 3. Darwin Nunez | Liverpool | €85m | 2022 |
| 4. Ruben Dias | Man City | €71.6m | 2020 |
| 5. Joao Neves | PSG | €65.9m | 2024 |
| 6. Goncalo Ramos | PSG | €65m | 2024 |
| 7. Alvaro Carreras | Real Madrid | €50m | 2025 |
| 8. Marcos Leonardo | Al-Hilal | €40m | 2024 |
| 9. Ederson | Man City | €40m | 2017 |
| 10. Axel Witsel | Zenit | €40m | 2012 |
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