São Paulo’s survival plan: who’s next on the sale list? | OneFootball

São Paulo’s financial constraints have placed player sales at the heart of the club’s strategy for achieving a surplus this season, explained football director Carlos Belmonte, according to Arquibancada Tricolor. The comments come in the wake of the club’s confirmed transfer of midfielder Matheus Alves to CSKA Moscow for around €6 million, with São Paulo also retaining a 25% sell-on clause should Alves move on from Russia in the future.

Belmonte outlined the club’s necessity to be prudent this year, highlighting a sharp reduction in payroll expenses—down by nearly eight million reais from the end of last year to mid-2025. He emphasized that São Paulo is currently the only top-flight Brazilian club not to have spent on transfer fees during this window. “It was a year of tightening the belt,” he stated. “We’ve already reduced the squad’s wage bill by more than a million reais per month compared to six months ago.”

Despite meeting their initial budgeted target for player sales, the need for additional revenue remains. The underachievement in last year’s Copa do Brasil, where the team did not reach the quarterfinals as budgeted, has created a gap that must be filled either through better performance in the league and continental competitions, improved matchday revenue, or, most realistically, further player sales.

Interest is growing in São Paulo’s promising talents. Olympiacos of Greece is expected to formalize a bid for Matheus Alves, while PSV Eindhoven from the Netherlands has approached the club about forward Henrique Carmo. According to Belmonte, every proposal is evaluated on its own merits, but in the current economic climate, selling assets is viewed as the primary—and sometimes only—viable path to balancing the books.

The club’s financial planning assumed the departures of veterans Rafinha and Luiz Gustavo at the end of last year. However, with Luiz Gustavo’s contract renewed, São Paulo lost less on salaries than initially projected, but this also meant the budgetary relief was less than planned. Belmonte noted these shifting variables have increased the pressure to offset lost income through further transfer activity.

The club’s approach is pragmatic: “To compensate for these budget distortions, we need to sell more players,” Belmonte conceded, adding that progressing further in the Brasileirão or Libertadores, or improving ticket revenue, could help—but player sales remain the most feasible solution.

(Original reporting from Arquibancada Tricolor)

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