Marinakis furious after realizing that 23-year-old midfielder only wants to play for Benfica

The Portuguese club Benfica is interested in signing Colombian midfielder Gustavo Puerta, 23, to strengthen their midfield. The player is seen as one of the options to fill a potential departure of his compatriot Richard Ríos, also Colombian. Racing Santander, the Spanish club where Puerta plays, does not seem willing to make the midfielder's departure easy.

Olympiacos was also following the player, but Puerta refused to play for the Greek club. The owner of Olympiacos, Evangelos Marinakis, told Sport24 that he had paid the player's 16 million euro release clause, but the player did not want to accept the transfer. Marinakis expressed his frustration, questioning: "What else can we do?"

The Colombian midfielder wants to make the leap to a club that allows him to compete at the highest level of European football, and the possibility of wearing Benfica's sacred jersey is viewed favorably by the player himself, who shows a clear preference for the transfer to the red and whites.