Saudi Arabia champions sign Peru World Cup star from Benfica

Andre Carrillo and club president Sami Al-Jaber put pen to paper on the contract in Madrid. (@Alhilal_EN)

• Andre Carrillo will spend the season on loan at Al-Hilal
• New coach Jorge Jesus pushed for the board to sign the 27-year-old winger

LONDON: New coach Jorge Jesus has stamped his mark on his Al-Hilal squad by driving through the transfer of Peru World Cup star Andre Carrillo.
Jesus was unveiled as Al-Hilal boss last month and Carrillo, 27, was one of the prominent names on a shopping list he gave to club president Sami Al-Jaber when he started work and evaluated the squad.
Jesus worked with Carrillo at Sporting Lisbon for one season in 2015/16, the year Sporting finished second behind Benfica by just two points, losing only two games.
Carrillo transfered to Benfica at the end of that season, but he only played 20 times for the Portuguese giants and was loaned to Premier League Watford last summer. He started well in England under the guidance of former coach Marco Silva, but once Silva was fired, Carrillo’s performances tailed off and Watford decided against making the transfer permanent, opting instead to sign Spain international Gerard Deulofeu.
Despite playing all three group games at the World Cup and scoring against Australia, Carrillo still found himself surplus to requirements at Benfica so Al-Hilal have swooped and landed him on a season-long loan deal with an option to buy. The loan fee is being reported as €2.5 million ($2.9 million) while the option-to-buy fee has apparently been set at €20 million.
“André, whom I know from our time at Sporting, was one of four players I requested,” Jesus is reported to have told the press during their training camp in Austria.