Luis Benedetti

A release clause of €100 million attached to a teenager who had barely played a professional match is what put Luis Benedetti in front of a European audience. Brazilian media never confirmed the figure appeared in the official document, but the number travelled anyway, and so did the interest behind it.

Benedetti came through the Palmeiras academy, and 2023 was the year the club's coaching staff had something to point at: with the Sub-17 side he won the Campeonato Paulista Sub-17 and the Copa do Brasil Sub-17 in the same season. Two titles in a single age group is the kind of return that moves a player up a list quickly.

The promotion followed in 2025. Palmeiras registered him with the first team and tied him to a professional contract running to 31 December 2029. His debut came on 15 January 2025, in the Campeonato Paulista against Portuguesa — a substitute appearance, on with 21 minutes gone in the second half.

Later that year he was called into the Brazil Under-20 squad for a set of friendlies in Egypt. No official caps have followed.

The transfer market moved faster than the playing career. Barcelona put together an approach worth around €12 million. Arsenal opened talks and returned to them in 2026, by which point Palmeiras were asking upwards of €15 million — a gap that says as much about the club's valuation of him as it does about the offers themselves.

For now the record is short: an academy background, two youth trophies, and a queue of clubs waiting on the next one.