Marco Silva tried to sign Clément Lenglet during his time at Fulham, but the defender turned down the chance to move to Craven Cottage.

He has now ended up joining the Portuguese manager after all. However, it happened at Benfica rather than in the West London.

Lenglet was officially unveiled by Benfica this week, and A Bola explains the move brings an interesting twist to a transfer story involving Fulham.

According to the Portuguese newspaper, Silva had been pushing to sign the experienced centre-back while he was managing the Cottagers. However, the move never happened. Lenglet wanted to join a side capable of competing for major honours instead.

That ambition was one of the main reasons he accepted Benfica’s offer. Also, A Bola adds the 31-year-old also rejected financially stronger proposals from Saudi Arabia. In addition, he turned down offers from other emerging markets before choosing the Portuguese club.

Fulham couldn’t convince him

The French defender had already built up plenty of Premier League experience during loan spells with Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa. He made 35 appearances for Spurs in the 2022/23 season before adding another 25 for Villa the following campaign.

Interestingly, Lenglet came up against Silva’s Fulham twice during those spells and won both matches by the same 2-1 scoreline.

Despite Fulham’s efforts, the defender felt his next move needed to be to a club where he had a realistic chance of winning trophies.

Plenty of experience arrives in Lisbon

Clément Lenglet

Clément Lenglet heads to Benfica with an impressive CV behind him. The former Barcelona defender has played in three of Europe’s top five leagues. He has also made 60 Champions League appearances across spells with Sevilla, Barcelona, Tottenham and Atlético Madrid.

His time at Barcelona brought a La Liga title, a Copa del Rey and a Spanish Super Cup. He played 160 matches for the Catalan giants. Overall, he played 293 in total across his career in Spain.

Lenglet has also been capped 16 times by France. He made his debut under Didier Deschamps. Lastly, he last featured for the national side a year ago in the Nations League semi-final against Spain. In that game, he lined up alongside Ibrahima Konaté.

The defender also has previous experience against Benfica. He played in the 0-0 Champions League draw at Camp Nou in 2021, remained on the bench for Barcelona’s 3-0 defeat in Lisbon later that group stage, and also watched from the Atlético Madrid bench as Benfica claimed a 4-0 Champions League victory in October 2024.

For Fulham, it is another reminder of a transfer target who slipped away. Marco Silva eventually gets to work with Lenglet – just not in the circumstances he originally hoped for.

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