Report: Flamengo will NOT sign Renato Augusto this summer | OneFootball

On Monday, Flamengo got right down to official business by presenting new manager Renato Gaúcho.

However, after the press conference, vice president of football Marcos Braz fielded several questions, including those about Flamengo’s top-three transfer targets: Renato Augusto, Thiago Mendes and Kenedy.

While providing updates on Kenedy and Thiago Mendes, Braz confirmed that Flamengo have taken themselves out of the running to land Renato Augusto as the player could not get released from the final six months of his contract with Beijing Guoan.

“With Renato, we didn’t advance, we couldn’t,” Braz admitted. “With Kenedy, we are waiting for Chelsea, we have been trying to do that. With Thiago Mendes, Bruno Spindel is incessantly trying to get liberation there.

“We are not going to buy any players, Flamengo intends to bring them in on loan and, if possible, at no cost for the loan. This puts us in a very fragile way in terms of negotiations.

“So, we need to have a lot of patience and resilience. We haven’t diminished our appetite for ‘Class A’ players but Flamengo’s finances are far from the comfort of a while ago.

“When it is not possible, at first, to buy players, no one should think that the players that could come in are without prestige.”

While Flamengo are in the middle of a trying transfer season, they must get ready for a challenging Copa Libertadores round-of-16 clash against defending Copa Sudamericana champions Defensa y Justicia, which will begin on Wednesday.