THEAt 24 years old, Samuel Soares is enjoying a 2026/27 sporting season of full affirmation, in Benfica’s main team, so much so that it didn’t take long for him to ‘tackle’ the Ukrainian Anatoliy Trubin to gain the status of undisputed starter in goal, since the arrival of Marco Silva.
Ricardo Pereira, Norwich City’s current goalkeeping coach, worked closely with the Sintra native, in Benfica’s youth team, and in an extensive interview given this Monday to Antena 1’s ‘Jornal de Desporto’, he assured that he was not surprised by the ease with which he made the ‘leap’.
“Not even, perhaps, he was one of the goalkeepers who was attributed the most talent. He was a goalkeeper who was attributed a lot of work capacity and a lot of resilience. In fact, this was confirmed, with Samuel’s growth in our youth teams, with his career at Benfica, growing… He was burning through his stages, in the under-17s, in the under-19s, in the B team… He knew how to wait, and I think this should also be valued”, he began by stating.
“I see that Samuel counters depth very well, that he is a tremendously quick goalkeeper controlling those spaces, and that Benfica’s defensive line is playing very high up. I also see Samuel as an added value in the context of crossing, where, again, there may be one or another moment where he can fail, but Samuel wants to go, Samuel wants to help the defensive line, in the context of the game”, he added.
“We never heard a word or controversy about Samuel being on the bench”
In this same interview, Ricardo Pereira applauded, with particular emphasis, the way in which Samuel Soares approached this whole situation: “We have never heard a word or controversy about Samuel being on the bench over the last few years. He is a boy, and I want to value this… He is a Portuguese goalkeeper, he is a young goalkeeper, who knew how to wait for his opportunity and who, at this moment, with the change of coach at Benfica, has arrived. I think he is taking advantage of it well”.
“I don’t know how Trubin trains, I don’t know how Samuel trains. What I see, at the moment, that Samuel is doing, is a process of growth. We cannot expect a goalkeeper with half a dozen games in Benfica’s first team to be a completely accomplished goalkeeper”, he pointed out.
Finally, the Portuguese only regretted the skepticism with which the young goalkeeper’s debut was received in what was the first squad list drawn up by Jorge Jesus, at the helm of Portugal’s main team: “I see a lot of attack on Samuel, it seems that we have all become goalkeeper commentators, at this point, because I think he has been regular, he has done his job… He has, here or there, made small mistakes, but he is going through a good moment, and the selector, looking at that moment, too, decided to call up the Samuel.”
What is certain is that, now, Samuel Soares’ attention is focused on the match in the third round of the league phase of the Europa League, which will pit Benfica and Omonia face to face, starting at 8pm (Mainland Portugal time) next Thursday, at the Neo GSP Stadium, in Nicosia.
