Jurásek: Di María and Otamendi spoke Portuguese, but they were interested in my transfer. Rui Costa is a great guy

He’s living his dream. Two years ago, David Jurásek was playing for Prostějov in the second league, but through Mladá Boleslav and Slavia he got to Benfica Lisbon. In the Portuguese club, he was immediately taken in by the club’s boss and Portuguese legend Rui Costa.

It’s a giant leap for him. Although the Portuguese league may not have the same buzz here, Benfica Lisbon is on the rise and would like to remember the glory days when they ruled Europe.

Last season they reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, a year earlier they knocked out Barcelona in the group stage. In addition to the traditional sale of youngsters, Benfica has been successful in bringing in experienced stars. Like Nicolas Otamendi, Ángel Di María and João Maria. And Jurásek received the same welcome.

“When I was told that I would be on a plane with Di María, Otamendi and Ruiz Costa to the training camp, I said it was serious. The guys were speaking mostly Portuguese, so I was listening. Every now and then they switched to English and engaged me, but I didn’t get as much out of it as if I could speak Portuguese. They asked me about my transfer, they wanted to know how it was going,” Jurásek said in an interview with Sport.cz.

Rui Costa, the Benfica boss and legend of Portuguese football, also took Jurásek on.

“He is a great guy. I think he’s cool, we talk calmly together. He helps me a lot with everything. I feel that he doesn’t think of me as his subordinate, but rather as a friend,” Jurásek explains.

Benfica has a lot of confidence in the Czech international. This is evidenced not only by the transfer amount (14 million euros), but also by the buyout clause they built into the contract – 80 million euros. That’s how much the next bidder would have to prepare if they were interested in Jurásek and Benfica had no interest in selling the player.

At the same time, he has a great chance to work his way into the starting lineup right away, as Grimaldo, who was part of the starting lineup at left back, left for Bayer Leverkusen.

Source: Sport.cz