Benfica Set to Sign Duran on Loan as Career Reset
Benfica are closing in on a deal for Colombian international Duran, a move that offers the 22-year-old a way out of a stalling career and hands the Lisbon club another heavyweight option in attack.
According to Portuguese outlet A Bola, the forward is set to join on loan from Al-Nassr, with the Saudi club agreeing to shoulder the bulk of his sizeable wages. For Benfica, it is a low-risk swing at a player once valued among the brightest striking prospects of his generation. For Duran, it already feels like a crossroads.
From €77m marquee signing to expendable asset
Al-Nassr paid a staggering €77 million to prise Duran away from Aston Villa in January 2025, tying him to a contract worth around €20m per year until 2030. He arrived in Saudi Arabia as a statement signing, the kind of fee that screams centrepiece, not squad player.
The reality never matched the billing. Across domestic and continental competitions, Duran managed only 18 appearances. No rhythm, no real run of games, no sense that he had become central to Al-Nassr’s plans.
This week, CEO Jose Semedo effectively drew a line under the experiment, giving the striker the green light to find a new club. The solution suits all parties: Al-Nassr trim a wage they no longer justify, Benfica gain a powerful, mobile forward without breaking their structure, and Duran gets something he has barely tasted in three years — a fresh start.
Loans that went nowhere
The warning signs had already flashed before the Saudi move. Duran’s development stalled during unsuccessful loan spells at Fenerbahce and Zenit St Petersburg. At both clubs he struggled to impose himself; in Russia, his situation deteriorated further.
Disciplinary issues at Zenit saw him frozen out of the first team altogether, a damaging label for a player still trying to prove he belongs at the top level. The lack of regular football cost him dearly. When Colombia named their squad for the 2026 World Cup, Duran’s name was absent.
Seventeen caps for his country hint at his ceiling. His recent club record underlines how far he has drifted from it.
Benfica’s bet: talent, not guarantees
Duran is expected in Lisbon in the coming days to undergo his medical before linking up with Marco Silva’s squad. Once cleared, he will be thrown straight into pre-season, not eased in. Benfica want him learning the patterns, absorbing the demands, feeling the pace of their game from day one.
Silva’s sides are built on intensity, structure and responsibility without the ball. For a forward who has bounced between systems and leagues without continuity, this will be a test as much as an opportunity. Benfica are not signing the fee Al-Nassr once paid; they are betting on the raw attributes that persuaded clubs to spend that kind of money in the first place.
The club’s attacking unit already faces a heavy schedule, with domestic trophies to chase and the expanded Champions League league phase looming. Depth is no luxury. It is a necessity.
If Duran buys into the work and rediscover his edge, Benfica may have found a cut‑price game‑changer for the season ahead. If he cannot, this loan could be remembered as the moment his career stopped pausing and started sliding.
The next chapter begins at the Estadio da Luz. How long he stays on that stage is now up to him.
