The Macedonian international had an invisible spell at Benfica in 2017.
Macedonian international Erdal Rakip has broken his silence about his “invisible” spell at Benfica. The midfielder, who joined the Eagles in 2017 from Malmo, revealed all the controversy surrounding his time at the Estádio da Luz.
“When I arrived at Benfica, I immediately realized that things weren’t as I had imagined. I was signed as a free agent after finishing the season at Malmö, but I felt there was no sporting plan for me. I barely had time to get to know the facilities and there was already talk of loaning me out. Benfica decided I should go to Crystal Palace to gain experience. I accepted because I wanted to play, but the truth is that Benfica only sent me there because they wanted to ‘place’ me somewhere. When the loan in England ended and I didn’t play, my return to Benfica was a nightmare,” he began by saying in an interview on the Lundh podcast. Rakip ended up being loaned to Crystal Palace in England. Upon his return, his ambition was to finally establish himself at Benfica. However, that dream was quickly cut short.
When I returned from London, I was completely sidelined. The club simply ‘froze’ me. I didn’t train with the first team; they made me train alone or with players they also wanted to get rid of. It was a very difficult situation. You feel like a prisoner; you’re at a great club, in a fantastic city, but they don’t let you be what you want to be: a football player. It was tragic. Me and about five or six other players were sidelined. We couldn’t train with the first team, nor with the B team. We trained at different times, sometimes alone or with a coach who wasn’t even from the club. We couldn’t use the main changing room or eat in the cafeteria at the same time as the others. They wanted us to feel bad to force us out, he said.
The Moldovan player described Benfica’s approach as dirty play. The player, who had no contact whatsoever with Rui Vitória (the coach at the time), admitted that Benfica pressured players to accept offers. Those who refused were punished… in the harshest way possible.
They tried to break you down psychologically. They’d say, ‘You have this offer from this club, you have to accept it.’ If I said it wasn’t a good step for my career, the response was, ‘Then you’ll continue training separately.’ It’s a dirty trick. At Benfica, if you’re not in their plans, you go from star to nobody in a second,” he began.
“Nobody spoke to me. There was no explanation from the coach or the directors. I was there, I did my hours, but it was as if I were invisible. They wanted me to give up money to let me leave. It’s a very cold side of professional football that people don’t see. I never had a real opportunity to show what I was worth in training with the group. The coach [Rui Vitória] didn’t even speak to us. We were just there to fulfill the contract until someone gave in. It’s a huge club, with a fantastic structure, but the way they treat players they don’t want is very harsh,” he added.
Erdal Rakip is currently without a club. After the controversy, he left Benfica without receiving any money and without having the opportunity to make his debut. He returned to Malmo where he played for four more seasons with the Swedish club. For the last three seasons he has played for Antalyaspor in Türkiye.
Still, in the end, the Montenegrin international isn’t entirely sorry he moved to Lisbon in 2017.
“To finally get out of that situation at Benfica, I had to give up a considerable part of what I was entitled to receive under my contract. It was the price to pay for my freedom and to be able to play and be happy again at Malmö. It was an expensive but necessary lesson. Do I regret it? It’s difficult to say. Benfica is one of the biggest clubs in the world, it was a dream. But seeing how things turned out and how I was treated, of course I wish it had been different. I learned a lot about the dark side of football,” he concluded.