Opinion – PVC: The novelty of the market

Of the 13 biggest clubs in Brazil, Palmeiras is the only one without a signing before the start of the season. The strategy is risky but grounded.

The club believes it has one of the best squads in the country, enough to fight for all the titles with the return of injuries to Raphael Veiga and Jaílson, without Scarpa and Danilo.

It’s not easy to find examples of teams winning two seasons in a row without signings in between.

The 1982 Flamengo is one of those rare cases.

World champion in December 1981, the rubro-negro won the next Brazilian, fielding only 19 players, all available in the second half of the previous campaign.

Another memory is that of Real Madrid, unusual winner of the Champions League consecutively, with the same lineup in two finals in a row: Navas, Carvajal, Varane, Sergio Ramos and Marcelo; Casemiro, Modric and Kroos; Isco, Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo. They beat Juventus and Liverpool, in the finals of 2017 and 2018 – Pepe and Bale were starters in 2016.

Between the two achievements, Real took Theo Hernández, from Alavés, and Ceballos, from Betis. They just sat on the bench.

Palmeiras has a similar experience between 1972/1973. The lineup that became poetry in the mouths of Palmeiras had Leão, Eurico, Luís Pereira, Alfredo and Zeca, Dudu and Ademir da Guia; Edu, Leivinha, César and Nei. In the decisions, Madurga played in César’s place in 1972 and Ronaldo in Edu’s vacancy against São Paulo, in 1973.

But president Paschoal Giuliano hired Manfrini, Milton and Careca at the turn of the year.

Football is not used to strategies like that. You have to stir the candy, says the saying from the central region of Brazil. The question of moving the environment does not necessarily mean dismissing players and bringing others back. It is necessary to take the cast out of the comfort zone and this can be done with varied training and daily charges.

Corinthians kept the base, hired Yuri Alberto permanently and exchanged Piton for Matheus Bidu. São Paulo has six news, forwards Wellington Rato, Pedrinho and Marcos Paulo, goalkeeper Rafael, Argentine defender Alan Franco, Ecuadorian midfielder Méndez.

Santos bet on the good coach Odair Hellmann, hired defender Messias and striker Steven Mendoza, from Ceará, lateral João Lucas, from Cuiabá, goalkeeper Vladimir, from Avaí – all the clubs from which the reinforcements originated were relegated. Hellmann asked midfielder Dodi, with whom he worked at Fluminense.

Atlético hit the nail on the head by bringing in Argentine coach Eduardo Coudet. It could come up against the financial difficulty of a club that will inaugurate its new stadium, has BRL 1.6 billion in debt and has once again suffered delays in wages.

Flamengo brought only midfielder Gérson and will have goalkeeper Rossi in the middle of the year.

Those who changed the most were those who worked the worst last year.

The lesson of my grandfather, Alexandrino, endorses the rare reinforcements from Palmeiras and Flamengo. When passing by the living room and seeing his grandson devouring the newspapers, in a summer when Careca negotiated with Palmeiras and closed with São Paulo and Santos signed Serginho Chulapa and Paulo Isidoro, grandpa would say: “What are you looking for there, man? In two months they’ll all be the same”.

With goalkeeper Leão in Solito’s place, Corinthians da Democracia was twice São Paulo champion and Flamengo, by Zico, won the Brazilian Championship for the second year in a row.

Almost no reinforcements.

Leila Pereira’s challenge is to show that my old grandfather is right up until today.