Benfica goalkeeper Jan Oblak is another playing who will be leaving the club as the Slovenia has been quoted as saying he will be joining Atletico Madrid. The keeper who replaced Artur Moraes as Benfica’s number one last season has secured a 16 million euros (£12.8m) move to the La Liga champions.
Oblak will replace Courtois who has headed back to Chelsea after three succesful loans spells in Spain with Atletico. The news has come as a bit of a shock as it was thought that Diego Simeone would move for Keylor Navas to fill the void left by Courtois. As the Costa Rican impressed last season and also during the World Cup were Cost Rica surprisingly topped the Group of Death and reached the quarter finals.
Oblak announced the move to Madrid when talking to newspaper A Bola, ‘It was my decision to move to Atletico. Ever since I was a child I have dreamed about playing in the Spanish league, which is better than the Portuguese one.’ The 21 year old added, ‘Benfica wanted me to stay and the president has done everything to stop me from leaving, but my wish is to sign for Atletico.’
The keeper who will gain a pay rise for making the move has insisted that the money wasn’t the contributing factor, ‘The financial factor was not the main reason, but the conditions are much better.’ After a succesful treble win last season Oblak wanted to thank Benfica saying, ‘I will never forget the years I had with Benfica. I wish everyone at the club all the best and I’m grateful for the help I recieved their. Benfica is a fantastic club.’
What remains to be seen is whether Simeone will bid for Keylor Navas, the Argentine would want the Cost Rican to provide competition to Oblak for the number one jersey.
Written by Ben Waterhouse – @BenWaterhouse_
