Valencia sporting director Rufete has admitted that the club were forced to release Jonas from his contract.

The Brazilian, who scored 10 times in 40 appearances last season, was surprisingly released on a free this summer.

However, Rufete has said that Los Che were unable to find a buyer for the attacker.

"It's understandable that people see it that way. It's logical," he told AS.

"We tried to sell the players who were saleable and Jonas was one of them. He was the only one we couldn't sell.

"We had opportunities to sell for a price but the player wasn't interested. For example, Mexico. The handicap is that when a player has a year on his contract, he has the upper hand."

Benfica are said to be interested in the free-agent 30-year-old.