Benfica Signs Duran on Loan as Al-Nassr Reset Begins

Benfica are closing in on a deal for Colombian forward Duran, a move that could hand both club and player a badly needed reset after a bruising year in Saudi Arabia and Europe.

The 22-year-old is set to join on loan from Al-Nassr, with the Saudi club agreeing to shoulder the bulk of his sizeable wages to make the transfer viable, according to A Bola. For Benfica, it is a low-risk swing at a striker who not long ago was being talked about as one of South America’s most explosive young No 9s. For Duran, it is a lifeline.

From €77m headline act to surplus at Al-Nassr

Al-Nassr paid €77 million to sign the former Aston Villa forward in January 2025, handing him a contract worth around €20m a year through to 2030. That fee and that salary came with clear expectations: instant impact, goals, stardom in a league hungry for marquee names.

It never materialised.

Duran managed just 18 appearances across domestic and continental competitions in Saudi Arabia, his time there reduced to cameos rather than centrepiece performances. This week, Al-Nassr CEO Jose Semedo effectively drew a line under the experiment, giving the Colombian the green light to find a new club and rebuild a career that has stalled alarmingly quickly.

The solution, for now, lies in Lisbon.

Loans that never ignited

Duran’s struggles did not start in Saudi Arabia. Before this proposed move to Portugal, the Colombia international – capped 17 times – endured two unconvincing loan spells at Fenerbahce and Zenit St Petersburg.

In Turkey, he never truly forced his way into the hierarchy of forwards. In Russia, the situation turned sour. Disciplinary issues saw him frozen out of the first-team squad at Zenit, a damaging episode for a player still trying to establish himself in Europe’s upper tier.

The consequences went beyond club level. With minutes scarce and form elusive, Duran was left out of Colombia’s 2026 World Cup squad, a brutal marker of how far his stock had fallen in a short space of time.

Benfica’s bet: talent over turbulence

Benfica see something worth salvaging. They usually do when it comes to forwards.

The plan is clear: Duran will arrive in Lisbon in the coming days, undergo his medical, and then walk straight into Marco Silva’s pre-season programme. No easing in, no slow burn. The coaching staff want him immersed in the tactical work from the first session, sharpening his movements, syncing with the pressing triggers, learning the combinations that define Benfica’s attacking patterns.

This is not a vanity signing. Benfica are building for a demanding season on multiple fronts – the domestic calendar and the new-look Champions League league phase – and the frontline needs depth, variety and goals. Duran, at his best, offers all three: power, mobility, and a directness that can rip open games.

The club’s model has long thrived on reclaiming or refining talented players whose careers have drifted. The difference here is scale. This is a €77m striker arriving as a reclamation project, his wages underwritten by a Saudi powerhouse that no longer has a place for him.

A career at a crossroads

For Duran, the stakes are obvious.

Benfica is not a soft landing; it is a spotlight. Perform, and the narrative flips: the misfit from Saudi Arabia becomes the rejuvenated spearhead of a Champions League side, back in the shop window for Europe’s elite and firmly in the thoughts of Colombia’s selectors. Falter again, and the questions grow louder about attitude, consistency and ceiling.

He comes into a dressing room that knows how to sell players upwards, but not before demanding buy-in and work. Pre-season will be his first test, not just in front of Silva and his staff, but in a squad that will quickly sense whether this is a hungry striker on a mission or a big name looking for comfort.

Benfica are offering Duran a platform. Al-Nassr are paying to give him one last push. The rest is down to a 22-year-old whose next few months in Lisbon may define the trajectory of the next decade of his career.