Andreas Samaris has just signed a contract with Portuguese side Benfica, with a reported transfer fee of €10m and a release fee of €45m. What a year for the 25-year-old central midfielder! Last summer he signed from Panionios to Olympiacos, then managed to become a regular starter in most of the Reds’ Champions League games and of course being selected to play for the Greek national team. Finally, he was called up by Fernando Santos to participate in the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, where he made two appearances and scored Greece’s first goal of the tournament against Ivory Coast. To conclude, he has now become the second most expensive Greek player in history worth €10m. “I wanna thank owner Mr Marinakis, my coach Mitchel, the management staff, my teammates and of course the incomparable fans of Olympiacos for everything they passed on to me. Olympiacos helps players evolve by investing on their talent. I wish them success in Greece but most of all in the European cups.” Those were Samaris first words after his sale became official making him the 5th (!) Greek to join the club in recent years. First to start the journey was Triantafylos Mihailidis, and then Panayotis Fyssas followed with Giorgios Karagounis and Kostas Katsouranis.