Sergen Yalcin, Besiktas coach, confessed that he was incredulous at Rafa's attitude, which forced him to leave the club and ended up returning to Benfica. In the press conference that followed the victory against Konyaspor (2-1) in the Turkish League (Tiago Djaló and Jota Silva were used and Orkun Kökcü scored the decisive goal), the coach said: «Some people tell me that I couldn't control Rafa Silva. How do these people know? Do you live with us or are you training? A case like this cannot be managed. The solution involves the player leaving, that’s what we did.” Yalcin considered Rafa's case "more serious than that of Aboubakar", a former FC Porto striker who represented Besikas on three separate occasions and also forced his departure from the club. «I have never seen a player like Rafa Silva in my entire life. Seeing the most expensive player on the team stand still and say: “I’m not going to play or go to training”. As a club, we cannot do or explain anything", reinforced the Turkish coach. Recalling that «Besiktas managed to save 20 million euros and achieved an economic benefit» with the departure of the Portuguese international, Sergen Yalcin also said: «I called Rafa and spoke to him. I told him “you are our best player, everyone trusts you, you need to lead us to success”. These were things I didn’t believe in, but it still didn’t work out.” This January, Rafa signed until 2028 with Benfica, for which he made his debut in the rout against Estrela da Amadora (4-0), on the 19th round of the League.