Benfica coach Schmidt criticizes Leverkusen over Grimaldo transfer

Benfica coach Roger Schmidt criticized his former club Bayer Leverkusen for the way they announced the transfer of defender Alejandro Grimaldo.

The Spanish left back will move to Leverkusen from Benfica on a free transfer in July and the transfer was announced earlier this week with photographs and a video interview.

This caused anger at Benfica, leading to debates about whether Grimaldo should be benched or not.

"I respect what he's doing for Benfica, but the announcement, with the pictures, the interview, and everything was really not smart, I think it's very clear. It was completely unnecessary in my opinion," Schmidt told a news conference on Saturday.

"It wasn't good for his new club, because their players don't want to see pictures for the new season, they want to focus on the current season. It wasn't good for us, because there was some noise and of course it was not good for Grimaldo, because what he's doing for Benfica doesn't really fit this situation," said Schmidt, who coached Leverkusen from 2014 to 2017.

His comments came after he was asked whether Benfica knew Grimaldo was signing with Leverkusen, which the coach didn't clarify.

"At the end it was a mistake. In my opinion the new club and his adviser had to advise him to do this maybe better, I don't know if it was a clear agreement to do it like that," Schmidt said.

Asked if Grimaldo apologized, the coach said he wouldn't answer further questions about the topic.

Benfica can clinch the Portuguese title this weekend with a win in the Lisbon derby against Sporting on Sunday.