Who is Tomás Amaral? The career and signings behind NUFC's new recruitment chief

Enzo Fernández, Darwin Núñez, David Neres and Anatoliy Trubin are a useful starting point for understanding what Newcastle are getting in Tomás Amaral.

Our new Head of First Team Recruitment spent four-and-a-half years in Benfica's scouting operation, helping recruit players who could make an impact in Lisbon and go on to attract some of Europe's biggest clubs. Looking through those deals, there's plenty to like about the experience he's bringing to Tyneside.

Who is Tomás Amaral?

Amaral is a 35-year-old Portuguese recruitment specialist whose career has taken him through Portugal, Spain and Russia.

His early work included video analysis at Farense and Braga, followed by scouting roles with Granada, Eibar and Real Valladolid. He joined Benfica in 2019 and remained there until the end of 2023.

He became a senior scout at the Portuguese club and was part of the operation during a spell that included their 2023 league title.

He then moved to Spartak Moscow as sporting director in January 2024. He left in November that year and now joins Newcastle to lead our first-team scouting operation.

Enzo Fernández and Darwin Núñez explain the appeal

Amaral was part of the Benfica recruitment team that signed Enzo Fernández from River Plate in 2022.

Enzo was 21 when he arrived. The initial fee was €10m, with up to €8m in add-ons, and within months he had won the World Cup with Argentina. Chelsea then agreed a €121m transfer in January 2023.

Benfica had secured him before that World Cup put him in front of a much bigger audience. That's the sort of timing Newcastle would love to reproduce.

Núñez offers another example. Benfica signed him from Almería in Spain's second tier in 2020, paying €24m for the 21-year-old. It was a club-record fee at the time.

Two years later, Liverpool agreed an initial €75m deal, with a further €25m available in bonuses.

For Newcastle, the appeal is finding those players before they make the next big step into the Premier League and their fees and wages put them out of our reach. We have a ceiling on what we can spend, so getting there earlier could open up deals we simply couldn't afford a year or two later.

There was more to Benfica's recruitment than the big sales

Fredrik Aursnes arrived from Feyenoord in 2022 for €13m plus up to €2m in add-ons.

The Norwegian was already 26 and had helped Arne Slot's side reach the Europa Conference League final. He was an established player coming into his prime, offering a different recruitment challenge from the young South American talents.

There was also Trubin, signed from Shakhtar Donetsk at 22 in 2023. Benfica were bringing in a goalkeeper who already had Champions League and senior international experience, with plenty of development still ahead of him.

David Neres, another arrival from Shakhtar, and Alexander Bah, recruited from Slavia Prague, both joined in 2022.

It's hard to pigeonhole Amaral from that list. His recruitment record covers different positions, ages and leagues, which feels like a breath of fresh air.

We've already seen some of that this summer with Bazoumana Touré, Aladji Bamba and Matias Fernandez-Pardo, young players arriving from different leagues abroad. Amaral looks well suited to building on that approach, with experience of finding talent across a range of markets.

What did he do at Spartak Moscow?

His signings at Spartak included Manfred Ugalde, a 21-year-old Costa Rican striker recruited from FC Twente in January 2024. Ugalde went on to finish as the Russian Premier League's leading scorer in 2024-25 with 17 goals.

He also brought in Ezequiel Barco from River Plate that summer, adding another Argentine attacking player to his recruitment record.

It was a short spell, but it gave him responsibility for recruitment beyond his scouting role at Benfica, with Ugalde providing a particularly encouraging example of a signing developing after his arrival.

What will he actually do at Newcastle?

Newcastle's announcement confirms that Amaral will report to Ross Wilson, lead our first-team scouting operation and help expand the club's presence and relationships in key markets.

Paul Midgley will oversee Academy recruitment and global emerging talent scouting, also reporting directly to Wilson.

Amaral's immediate relevance is therefore to the players we want to bring into the first-team picture. His Benfica record suggests experience of assessing both younger players ready for a step up and established players who can improve a side straight away.

Jaissle has already welcomed his arrival, speaking about the alignment between the people involved in recruitment.

I'd happily take a few more signings who arrive with their best years and biggest performances still ahead of them. There's plenty in Amaral's background to suggest he can help us find them.