Opinion – Sandro Macedo: What do clubs want for Christmas?

Who never wished for a childhood Christmas present that was impossible to earn? Well, maybe the children of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Messi and other wealthy people… And good for them. But whoever had a humbler background knows what it’s like to want and not to be able.

My childhood wish was a remote control cart called the Pegasus. It had the gold series and the silver series. As I was more modest, I really wanted the silver. But I never came close—not because my parents didn’t want to give it, but because they couldn’t. Did I get a hit-and-run ambulance—or was it a fire engine?

Today I am a father, and my 6-year-old daughter asked for something at Christmas that she saw in the store, a kind of plastic bag in the shape of a unicorn head. I don’t know what’s inside, and neither does she… maybe a village of little unicorns. The toy-head bag costs around R$900, which means that Santa Claus will have to make do with something else —Catarina will forgive me.

Football clubs don’t think very differently from children with little money at Christmas time.
Much of the sports news at this time of year, without games in Brazil, focuses on the so-called “ball market”, with a little information and a lot of speculation. But the curious thing is to look at the behavior of clubs in “non-negotiations”. It’s as if the object-players of desire split into two categories: hit cart and Pegasus gold series.

Vasco made a project (not a proposal) by Diego Souza, who should not remain at Grêmio to play Serie B after relegation. The salary is high, ie Pegasus. But one manager said he “counts on the fans’ affection in the nets” to help convince the player. In other words, you only have money for “hit and go”.

Fluminense stopped selling its sub-Fraldinha team players to start investing in more veteran players, and not necessarily cheap ones, like Willian Bigode and Felipe Melo (both ex-Palmeiras). Then they said they were in advanced conversations with Ricardo Goulart, who played in China — “advanced conversations” is a football term that means absolutely nothing. It’s more or less like I told my daughter that I’m in advanced conversations with a unicorn head. The newest news of the telenovela is that Goulart is studying other proposals.

And then there was the story that the Portuguese Nani (former Manchester United), who has played in Europe for 450 years, was offered to the Rio team. And Fluminense was “scared” by the values ​​of the young man who earned in euros. Swear?

But the best is São Paulo, a club that was already a management model in the 2000s. It hired right-back Rafinha, who is not cheap (another relegated former Grêmio), while still paying (or not paying?) millionaire debt for the right side Daniel Alves. They say that the board is after Douglas Costa, also a very expensive player who ended the season at the same Grêmio, fighting with the fans on social networks and on the field. Isn’t it curious how a club manages to go after two of the biggest salaries of the team that was relegated?

And there’s more: Morumbi’s team also sounded out Wesley, a forward for Aston Villa who now has a salary in LIBRAS. Good plan. Meanwhile, the elegant Hernán Crespo threatens to go to FIFA due to a financial dispute with the club.

Anyway, the problem with clubs this Christmas is the same as for some children: they can only win a hit-and-run ambulance, and look at that, but they dream of the Pegasus gold series… or the unicorn’s head.