Back on Tuesday morning, reports from the Portuguese media claimed Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee Gonçalo Guedes could play his first match of the season for Benfica this week.
That’s because he was spotted in the training session prior to the Champions League clash against RB Salzburg, and local outlets assumed he’d be returning to the pitch following his knee surgery.
However, as outlet A Bola now features some quotes from Benfica manager Roger Schmidt, it’s now said that Guedes isn’t quite ready to play yet.
The manager started by confirming that some players returning from injury trained with the squad, and that doesn’t mean they’ll be featuring against RB Salzburg.
“As I said, they train with the group, but we’ve had to recover them from situations and we don’t want to take any risks. We need them, we want them back as soon as possible because we have a lot of games, but without putting them at risk. We’ll have to assess them and make decisions match by match to realise when they can come into the team,” said Schmidt in a press conference.
Then when talking specifically about the Wolves loanee, Schmidt made his situation clearer, saying it will still take a while for him to get 100% fit.
“He’s working hard with us, after his injury he came back to Benfica, which we’re very pleased about, but he’s been out for a long time. He needs a few more training sessions to regain his confidence. We don’t want to take any risks with him. I hope we can use him very soon because we need him.”
Guedes had already been loaned to Benfica in January, and those knee injuries stopped him from giving his best for the Eagles. The clubs then gave it a new shot, and he’s now loaned by Wolves until the summer of 2024.
