Why did "Benfica" give up on the transfer of Abbosbek Fayzullayev?

There have been many reports about the possibility of Abbosbek Fayzullayev, a player of the 'SSKA' club and the Uzbekistan national team, heading to Europe. In particular, his transfer to Portugal's 'Benfica' was highly anticipated. However, ultimately this transfer did not take place.

According to the player's agent, German Tkachenko, initial negotiations regarding Fayzullayev's transfer to 'Benfica' were conducted. However, at the final stage, the leadership of the Lisbon club abandoned the agreement for political reasons.

Tkachenko stated:

"We could have transferred Fayzullayev to 'Benfica'. The initial negotiations were going well, but the Portuguese club did not want to establish contact with Russian players or players playing for Russian clubs. They expressed the position that 'we will not cooperate with Russia'."

For reference, Fayzullayev moved from the 'Pakhtakor' club to Moscow's SSKA in 2023 and quickly became one of the key players of the team. There are various speculations about his potential move to Europe. Earlier, it was reported that the 21-year-old winger had offers from Germany's 'Bayern' and Turkey's 'Galatasaray'.

So far, no definitive decision has been made regarding the player's future. However, considering his talent and growth rate, major European clubs will continue to show interest in him.