Florentino Luis, defensive midfielder par excellence
The general public may not yet know him in France, but Football Manager aficionados will know very well who we are talking about. Young Portuguese midfielder Florentino Luis (21) has just joined AS Monaco on loan for a season at. Trained as a central defender, a player who started playing indoor football at the age of 8, will now discover Ligue 1, after having moved through the ranks at SL Benfica. Discovered and then recruited in 2010 by the Lisbon club, the player of Angolan origin has quickly showed great skills.
Two European titles as a youth international
Usually stationed in front of the defense for the 37 times Portuguese champion club, the lanky (1.84 m) and athletic midfielder has shown himself to be a formidable ballwinner, endowed with a great capacity for anticipation and a certain intelligence in reading the game. He moved through the ranks fairly quickly in the youth sides at Benfica, much as he did for the Portuguese national teams. He has been called up, respectively, for the U15 (2 caps), U16 (10) and U17 (16), with whom he qualified for Euro 2016 in Azerbaijan.
He then won, as a part of the 1999 generation alongside players like Gedson Fernandes (Benfica) and Diogo Dalot (Manchester United) his first major international trophy. Meanwhile he was featuring regularly for the reserves with Benfica, who play in the Portuguese 2nd division, Florentino Luis then the following year began to feature for his country’s U19 side. He continued his record of success in winning the European Championships in Finland, just a year after his first title with the Seleçao.
🎥 𝘗𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦 W/ @Florentino_61 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/wg51RyCIhN
— AS Monaco 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) September 25, 2020
More than 30 matches with the vice-champion of Portugal
He then quickly became an important part of the team, wearing the captain’s armband in the semi-finals of the competition. While he has totaled 69 appearances in three seasons with Benfica B, the midfielder, who developed as a defensive midfielder, made his first appearances with the first team in 2019. He thus benefited from the appointment of his former reserve coach, Bruno Lage, as head coach of the first team, gradually taking his place in the first team locker room.
He made his debut in La Liga NOS in February 2019, before starting against Galatasaray in the Europa League. He appeared eleven times in the second half of the season in the league, gradually making a place in the rotation at the heart of midfield. Over the last year and a half, he has played 32 games with the 2019-2020 vice-champion, scoring one goal. He now arrives in the Principality on a one-year loan, after developing for eight years with SL Benfica.
A Portuguese U-21 international since last year (2 caps), Florentino Luis will now discover Ligue 1, where his athleticism will be appreciable, in a system of play that is physically demanding – his quality of recovery will also be an asset in this new adventure, as he becomes the 16th Portuguese player in AS Monaco’ history.
Bem-vindo Florentino !
L’AS Monaco a obtenu le prêt de l’athlétique milieu de terrain portugais du Benfica, Florentino Luis.
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👉 https://t.co/4Pw0eIzgCL#WelcomeToMonaco 🇲🇨 pic.twitter.com/OZ2mSHS9Ob
— AS Monaco 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) September 25, 2020
