São Paulo play it smart, 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 look for 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 dreamed big and would not settle for suggestions of veterans without a contract to replace the loss of André Silva and the need to hire a center forward.

Moreover, the intentional leak of the inquiry to the former Santos player was a message of happiness to the fans and especially to coach Hernán Crespo, resentful of the financial phase of Tricolor that only allows the search for more modest names.

Not even the most optimistic São Paulo director believed that Marcos Leonardo would become the most viable option to be the forward hired in this transfer window, which ends on Tuesday (2). No wonder. The 22-year-old was hired for a hefty sum by Al Hilal from Benfica at the start of last season for 40 million euros, with a contract until June 2029.

Therefore, when notified by the scout employee that the center forward would not be registered by the Saudi club in the local league and that the option was to loan him, the plan was drawn up. No, it was not merely about having Marcos Leonardo on their squad. But just to alleviate a bit the image of São Paulo weakened in the market.

Things began to change even on Tuesday itself (23/9). Expecting an immediate refusal, Tricolor was surprised by a positive nod from the forward's agent. Marcos Leonardo wanted to play for São Paulo.

There are several reasons for the forward's decision, who spoke with Casares and Belmonte during the week and gave various justifications. The Brazilian national team and, of course, the heart, after all, the forward never hid being a São Paulo fan.

From there, with a more concrete situation at hand, the Tricolor directors began to change their tone at the end of last week. First, they rushed to spread that there were no conditions for Marcos Leonardo to be hired, a clear attempt to ward off potential competitors (and they appeared) and avoid fatigue with the Saudis.

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

In their hands, more than Marcos Leonardo's yes, the directors also had a letter of intent where he commits to giving up the monthly salary of almost R$ 2.7 million from Al Hilal. He will earn from Tricolor until the end of the year a smaller amount, this more compatible with São Paulo's reality. A crucial factor for the Asian club's attempt to respond since Saturday afternoon (30/9). That's what's missing at the moment for the almost impossible dream, treated as such internally, to be actually realized.

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