Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 08:19• Tom Rofekamp

It is still far from a foregone conclusion that Ferro will play football for Vitesse next season. According to Portuguese sports newspaper Record the 25-year-old defender of Benfica was well on his way to the Arnhem team, who would rent him with an option to buy. Fellow Eredivisionist Fortuna Sittard was trumped by this. The Telegraph however, know from Portuguese sources that Sampdoria has also reported in the battle for the stopper.

Vitesse is eagerly looking for defensive reinforcements. With Danilo Doekhi, Riechedly Bazoer (free transfer), Jacob Rasmussen (end of lease) and Dominik Oroz (forced out due to military service), no fewer than four options left for the position of central defender. Only Melle Meulensteen has so far been collected from RKC Waalwijk to close the gaps. Valentine Ozornwafor, among others, has been linked with a move to the GelreDome, but the Charleroi defender is reportedly already on his way to Sochaux. Ferro, who is not in the plans of brand new Benfica trainer Roger Schmidt, seemed to offer a solution in that regard.

The mandekker has had little perspective on playing minutes at o Glorioso and may be rented out again, this time with an option to buy. Vitesse, however, seems impossible to cough up the future transfer fee of six million euros; Sampdoria has more financial resources. A loan to the Serie A club seems a more promising option for Benfica.

Ferro made his debut for Benfica in February 2019 and was added to Real Madrid’s list not long after. The Portuguese youth international was, according to ASH valued at the time at around one hundred million euros. After having come to a creditable number of forty matches in the 2019/20 season – including five in the Champions League – his development faltered. Rental periods at Valencia and Hajduk Split were unsuccessful and now a definitive exodus seems imminent.