Man United and City are among the big guns to have taken their pick from the brilliant Benfica production line.

Benfica's scouting system is the envy of Europe.

In the last decade the Portuguese champions have got into the habit of unearthing gems from European football's backwaters and selling them on for massive profits.

Add to that an academy that has produced the likes of Atletico Madrid's £113m new boy Joao Felix and Manchester City star Bernardo Silva and it's a surprise that the Lisbon club have not achieved more success in continental competition.

They have, however, raked in around £500m from players sale since 2011 and a composite team of those players would take some beating.
 

Here, Sportsmail runs through an XI the stars that Benfica have held on their books.

GOALKEEPER
Ederson

There is arguably no finer example of Benfica's excellent scouting system than the fact that they were able to pick up Ederson from fellow Portuguese outfit  Rio Ave in 2015 for a paltry six-figure sum and sell him to Manchester City just two years later for a whopping £35m. Has established himself as one of the world's best keepers but only just gets the nod ahead of another in that category: Jan Oblak.





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