By their own high standards, Benfica are in a silverware drought, last winning the Portuguese league title in 2019. But according to Pedro Mil-Homens, it feels like their trophy cabinet is bursting.<\/span><\/p>\n As director of Benfica’s youth academy, Mil-Homens’ job is not to worry about beating rivals Porto or Sporting or progressing in the Champions League. His primary concern is to ensure the club produces the best young talent in Portugal.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This season, Benfica’s side contains three players who have passed through those doors: top scorer Goncalo Ramos, <\/span>who scored a World Cup hat-trick<\/span><\/a> for Portugal against Switzerland last year; Portugal defender Antonio Silva and midfielder Florentino.<\/span><\/p>\n The trio are helping propel Benfica towards the league title and they are on track to reach the Champions League quarter-finals, sitting on a 2-0 lead over Club Bruges before Tuesday’s last-16 second leg at home.<\/span><\/p>\n “We all like to win trophies but our real trophies, the important ones, are seeing our Florentino, our Antonio Silva and our Goncalo Ramos in the first team,” says Mil-Homens. <\/span><\/p>\n “Not just reaching the team but showing the quality and capacity to stay there for a long period of time. Being able to show they are prepared, that they have the quality, the mentality, the performance to be on that level. When everything happens like that I can relax on the sofa and say we have accomplished our mission.”<\/span><\/p>\n Benfica’s academy has another objective, one Mil-Homens does not shy away from: to produce players the club can sell at a high price to fund transfers for experienced players.<\/span><\/p>\n Last year, the CIES Football Observatory declared Benfica’s academy the most profitable in the world, generating 379m euros (\u00a3336m) since 2015. Real Madrid was ranked second with 330m euros, with Monaco third on 285m euros. <\/span><\/p>\n In 2019 Benfica sold Joao Felix, who had only one full season in the first team, to Atletico Madrid for a club record \u00a3115m.<\/span><\/p>\n A year later they pocketed \u00a365m for selling Ruben Dias, who joined the club aged 13, <\/span>to Manchester City<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Dias has three other Benfica alumni as his team-mates at City – goalkeeper Ederson, Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo, who joined Bayern Munich on loan in January.<\/span><\/p>\n Homegrown players are just one aspect of Benfica’s money-printing operation, which has seen them generate an estimated \u00a31.14bn in transfer sales over the past decade. <\/span><\/p>\n A vast network of scouts also helps them unearth players as they are emerging.<\/span><\/p>\n Enzo Fernandez, <\/span>who joined Chelsea<\/span><\/a> for a Premier League record \u00a3106m in January, was signed from River Plate for only \u00a315m last summer. Then there is Darwin Nunez, who joined in 2020 for \u00a321m and in 2022 was <\/span>sold to Liverpool<\/span><\/a> for \u00a385m.<\/span><\/p>\n‘We have to be as active as possible’<\/h3>\n
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