Álvaro Fernández Carreras moved from Manchester United to Benfica in the January 2024 transfer window. The move was initially a loan deal, with the Lisbon club then activating a relatively low purchase clause, and the Red Devils having multiple clauses relating to the player’s next transfer.
Benfica paid around €6m plus bonuses, and Manchester United have the right to buy the fullback for a fixed fee, although the figure related to that wasn’t disclosed at the time. Should Benfica agree to sell the 21-year-old for less than that fixed fee then the Premier League club also have the right to match that.
Initially, the move to Lisbon didn’t work out at all well for Álvaro Carreras and there were even suggestions the buying clause wouldn’t be used. The left-back only accumulated 563 minutes of Liga Portugal football in the second half of last season, but things are looking better for him now.
Roger Schmidt was sacked as Benfica manager at the end of August, and Álvaro Carreras has started every match since.
On Wednesday evening, Benfica beat Atlético Madrid 4-0 in Lisbon, with the youngster one of the best performers.
Thursday’s edition of Record states he was their Man of the Match: ‘Make way for Álvaro Carreras. Playing against Atlético Madrid, the Spaniard showed a side that had not yet appeared since arriving at Benfica. Confident, uninhibited, aggressive and with a lot of football at his feet, that was how the left-back presented himself at Luz, creating a lot of danger down the wing. He only failed four passes in 77 and won all 8 duels played.’
O Jogo, another Portuguese newspaper, believe the former Manchester United player shared MOTM honours with Alexander Bah: ‘In defence, he barely made any mistakes and won back several balls. In attack, he added depth to the flank and was an important support for the attack.’
It’s worth noting this is being seen as something of a breakthrough performance, rather than a continuation of what Álvaro Carreras has been doing in every match.
Journalist Bruno Andrade was part of the praise, but tried to cool it down a little: “Carreras has potential, but he still has a long way to go before he reaches Grimaldo’s level.”
There’s been a growing insistence amongst some Manchester United supporters that the transfer was a terrible mistake which the club should be ashamed of.
That feels somewhat unfair. Álvaro Carreras clearly needed to develop and it’s taken a while to do so even at Benfica. If it had been a simple loan without a purchase clause then it’s questionable whether the Liga Portugal side would have put the same effort into the player after he initially struggled with them.
Should the claims of a buyback clause be correct, and there’s been nothing to question them, then Manchester United can eventually take back a player who will be much closer to the finished article than he was when he arrived in Lisbon.
