It has been a busy summer for Benfica.
The Eagles have parted ways with various key figures like Kerem Aktürkoğlu, Florentino Luís, Orkun Kökçü and Ángel Di María, but they’ve also replenished their squad in a bid to challenge for the Liga Portugal title and put an end to Sporting’s domestic dominance.
They’ve completed the signing of Samuel Dahl on a permanent deal from Roma following his impressive loan spell, with the Swede seeking to fill the void of Álvaro Carreras at left-back following his move to Real Madrid. Benfica have also signed Rafa Obrador from Real Madrid, who arrived as a makeweight in the aforementioned deal and who will be looking to follow in the footsteps of Carreras and Álex Grimaldo and become the Eagles’ next great Spanish left-back.
Rebuild at the Luz
Enzo Barrenechea and Georgiy Sudakov have joined on loan in a bid to inject their midfield with more creativity and dynamism, whilst the Lisbon giants also acquired ex-Salzburg right-back Amar Dedić as well as former Palmeiras midfielder Richard Ríos and ex-Union Saint Gilloise striker Franjo Ivanović.
In total, Benfica spent €105.55 million in the summer 2025 window, slightly over the €97m that they received in transfer and loan fees. Each of their seven new additions is under the age of 26, apart from Dodi Lukébakio, who joined on 1 September from Sevilla. Benfica agreed to pay €20 million plus €4 million in bonuses for the 27-year-old winger, who signed a five-year contract with the club with a release clause of €50 million. Zach Lowy takes a deep look at Lukébakio and what he can provide to Benfica.
Born in Asse, Belgium, Lukébakio made the transition to professional football with Anderlecht, making 18 appearances in 2015/16 before being loaned to Ligue 1 side Toulouse, where he played six times. He was then sent out on loan to Charleroi, where he scored 3 goals and provided 4 assists and 20 matches and made a name for himself in Belgium’s top-flight. These impressive displays prompted the attention of Watford, who cut his loan short and signed him in January 2018 for €5 million.
Neuer’s nemisis
However, Lukébakio would fail to make his mark in England, making just one 15-minute cameo at West Ham before being loaned out to Fortuna Düsseldorf in July 2018. He grabbed the opportunity by the scruff of its neck and enjoyed a breakout campaign in Germany, netting 14 goals and 5 assists in 34 appearances and becoming the first player in football history to score a hat-trick against Manuel Neuer.
It was enough to see Hertha Berlin shell out €20m to sign him in 2019. However, he struggled to replicate his stellar goalscoring form, registering 28 goals and 17 assists across 100 appearances across his four years in the capital, which included a season on loan at Wolfsburg. After Hertha’s relegation to the second tier, Sevilla swept in and signed him to a five-year deal, paying a cut-rate €10 million for his services. He’s made that look like a bargain, emerging as one of the few bright lights in what has been an otherwise torrid spell for the Andalusian side.
Shining in Seville
“Lukébakio is a genius, but sometimes he disappears and then appears when you least expect it,” stated Sevilla-based writer José Manuel García-Otero. “He dazzled at the start of his time at Sevilla, and when he was at his best, Mallorca players hunted him down and injured him for nearly four months. It took him a while to get going again. In his second season, he unleashed the essence of the game, scoring 11 goals, most of them decisive, which is what makes a top-level player.”
“He’s an impeccable professional,” added García-Otero, whose fifth book “Maradona Que Estás En El Cielo” was published in November 2024. “With a noble personality, he can take any joke. He’s easy to love in the locker room, a good Christian, and a great teammate. His left foot is a treasure. He’s got very good technique and dribbling prowess, and despite seeming to be cold, he’ll deceive the defender and make him pay. He’ll search the defender out before quickly freeing himself of him, and as such, he is constantly marked by hordes of defenders who are aggressively closing him down and breathing down on his neck. They know that if they don’t, they’ll be dead.”
Operating on the right side of attack, Lukébakio’s physical attributes are there for everyone to see, be that his blistering change of pace, or his 1.8m height, or his long strides. Capable of wiggling past defenders with his superb footwork and masterful ball control, he makes himself a nuisance with his unbelievable change of direction and his ability to whip the ball with the right amount of swerve and power, whether he’s getting off a cross or launching a shot towards goal.
It’s this unique elixir of attributes that turned him into one of Sevilla’s most indispensable players, leading the team in 2024/25 in various metrics like Goals in La Liga (11), Expected Goals (10.02), Expected Assists (4.02), and goal contributions (31). He also finished atop the team for scoring frequency (one goal per 282 minutes), shots per game (2.5), shots on target per game (1.0), big chances created (9), successful dribbles per game (2.2) and key passes per game (1.4).
Potent attacking weapon
“Lukébakio was our most important attacking player in the squad and possibly the most important player overall, stated US-based Sevilla fan Chris Lail. “He played in 39 of our 41 matches, logging a team-high 3,193 minutes. It’s a lot to replace and I don’t think Sevilla did enough to make up for his loss. He has a deadly left foot and good dribbling ability, he can take players on 1v1 and find space to deliver a cross, or if he gets on his left foot, a goal. His set-piece delivery has improved as well.
“He’s a really hard-working, focused, determined player without any of the drama you normally see in La Liga attackers. He missed some time in 2023/24 with hamstring problems, but even with limited minutes, his production was consistent, as he still managed to score 5 goals. He is a very level-headed player and seems to be a great teammate, so I don’t expect him to have any trouble fitting in with the Portuguese giants.”
Similarly to Christopher Nkunku, Romelu Lukaku, Chris Mavinga, Presnel Kimpembe and many others, Lukébakio is one of many footballers who, despite growing up in Europe, had the option of playing for DR Congo. Born in Belgium to a Congolese-French father and Belgian mother, Lukébakio made his debut for the DR Congo national football team in a friendly 1–0 loss to Kenya on 4 October 2016. However, he never made a competitive appearance for Les Léopards and eventually switched allegiance to represent the Belgium U21 side, eventually making the step up to the senior team in 2020.
Fixture in the Belgium squad
He has since emerged as an increasingly important figure for the Red Devils in attack with 26 appearances, three coming in the Euros – in fact, prior to this month, when he missed out after suffering a bone bruise, Lukébakio had been selected for every single Belgium squad since the start of 2023.
At 27 years of age, Dodi Lukébakio has already achieved a plentiful footballing resume, playing in Belgium, France, England, Spain and Germany and emerging as one of the most electrifying wingers in the Bundesliga and La Liga. He’s one of the few footballers to have been capped by two different countries alongside the likes of Diego Costa, Houssem Aouar, and Steven Caulker, and he looks set to play a pivotal role for Belgium in the 2026 World Cup in North America.
However, one thing he doesn’t have is silverware. Apart from a Bundesliga Rookie of the Month award way back in December 2018, Lukébakio hasn’t won a single trophy in his decade-long professional career. Can he finally change that in Lisbon?
(Photo by David Balogh/Getty Images)
