São Paulo play it cool, Marcos Leonardo eyes Morumbi move | OneFootball

Forward celebrates one of the goals scored in the last Club World Cup (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

RAFAEL EMILIANO@rafaelemilianoo

The suggestion to approach Marcos Leonardo, given to president Julio Casares and football director Carlos Belmonte in a meeting last week, had a very clear initial objective: to try to show the market that São Paulo was dreaming big and would not settle for suggestions of out-of-contract veterans to replace the loss of André Silva and the need to sign a center forward.

On top of that, the intentional leak of the inquiry about the former Santos player was a message of happiness to the fans and especially to coach Hernán Crespo, both disheartened by Tricolor’s financial situation, which only allows the pursuit of more modest names.

Not even the most optimistic São Paulo executive believed that Marcos Leonardo would become the most viable option to be the striker signed in this transfer window, which closes this Tuesday (2nd). And for good reason. The 22-year-old was signed for a hefty price by Al Hilal from Benfica at the start of last season for 40 million euros, with a contract until June 2029.

That’s why, when informed by the scouting staff that the center forward would not be registered by the Saudi club in the local league and that the option was to loan him out, a plan was set in motion. No, it wasn’t merely about having Marcos Leonardo in the squad. It was more about slightly improving São Paulo’s weakened image in the market.

Things started to change on that very Tuesday (9/23). Expecting an immediate refusal, Tricolor was surprised by a positive response from the striker’s agent. Marcos Leonardo wanted to play for São Paulo.

There are several reasons for the striker’s decision, who spoke with Casares and Belmonte over the week and gave various justifications. The Brazilian national team and, of course, his heart—after all, the striker has never hidden that he is a São Paulo fan.

From there, with a more concrete situation at hand, the Tricolor executives changed their tone at the end of last week. First, they hurried to spread the word that signing Marcos Leonardo was not feasible, a clear attempt to ward off potential competitors (and some did appear) and avoid friction with the Saudis.

At the same time, the club maintained formal contacts already initiated, such as those in Japan for Marcelo Ryan, but heard from Crespo himself that Marcos Leonardo should be treated as the top priority.

In hand, more than just Marcos Leonardo’s “yes,” the executives also had a letter of intent in which he commits to giving up his monthly salary of almost R$2.7 million from Al Hilal. He will earn a smaller amount from Tricolor until the end of the year, one more in line with São Paulo’s reality. This was a key factor for the Asian club to consider responding since Saturday afternoon (9/30). That is what is currently missing for the almost impossible dream—treated as such internally—to actually come true.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.