Ronaldo sees a ‘tragic’ scenario at Cruzeiro and leaves open the possibility of giving up

“Every day we open a drawer, we find a negative surprise”, defined Ronaldo, this Tuesday (11), about the analysis that he and his team have carried out regarding the situation at Cruzeiro.

In the first interview he gave after announcing his intention to invest BRL 400 million and acquire 90% of the club’s SAF (Sociedade Anônima do Futebol) shares, the former player said that the institution’s debt is greater than he expected —” billionaire even, I would say”. And confirmed that the possibility of withdrawal is foreseen in the pre-contract.

“Technically, yes. In the contract, there is this way out,” he said, before saying that this is not the plan now. “It is far from my head and my thoughts to give up on the project. At the moment, we are in the process of analyzing the club: understanding the size of the hole, the debt, understanding the creditors, in short, there is still a lot to understand. .”

“We found a really tragic scenario at the club, but we have to stop the bleeding,” he continued.

Ronaldo stated that the first priority of his management is the return to Serie A of the Brazilian Championship. According to him, the club is experiencing a moment of “unpopular but necessary actions”, and it will take at least a year to start balancing the accounts.

The former player stated that several revenues from the next two years, such as television deals, have already been anticipated. And it is precisely in the next two years that the club needs to pay R$ 140 million that it owes to other teams. These debts have little room for negotiation and, if not paid, the team is prevented by FIFA from making new hires.

“I would say that Cruzeiro is a patient in a serious condition, in the ICU, and we are offering the necessary treatment to get him out of this condition”, he added.

Ronaldo announced the purchase of Cruzeiro, the club that revealed him to football, on December 18 of last year. It was the first club-company to use the SAF (Anonymous Football Society) model, approved by the Federal Congress also last year.

Currently, there is a purchase intent agreement. But an analysis process of the club’s situation is underway, at the end of which there is no guarantee that the deal will be concluded.

Anyway, the former player is the one who calls the shots, and his management has been promoting changes — which has also generated the first crises. Since he arrived, the former striker saw a much more troubled news than, for example, that of Botafogo, a club that should be bought by businessman John Textor.

First, the new Cruzeiro management stipulated a salary cap for the cast and changed the coaching staff. He fired the then director of football, Alexandre Mattos, who had not even officially assumed the position, and the coach, Vanderlei Luxemburgo – both names chosen by the former administration.

In place of the first, he chose Paulo André, a name that did not please some of the fans; for the second place, he hired the Uruguayan Paulo Pezzolano.

Nothing that has raised the ire of the Cruzeiro fans like the non-renewal of the contract of goalkeeper Fábio, the club’s idol. At the time, there was a protest from fans against the departure.

The 41-year-old archer had been at the club for 17 years and, on the verge of completing a thousand games for the celestial club, he even celebrated the arrival of Ronaldo. There was, then, an attempt to renegotiate the worded agreement for the renewal of the contract, without success.

“The current board was clear. They told me that any other scenario was unfeasible and that I am not part of the sports planning for 2022. Executive director Pedro Martins and Gabriel Lima were present at the meeting representing the new management”, said the goalkeeper.

This Tuesday, Ronaldo presented another version. According to him, “a period was offered for the idol to say goodbye to the fans”.

“Fábio was and will always be an idol for Cruzeiro and the fans. We, given the current scenario, made a very big effort to offer him a decent proposal, respecting his history at the club and his trajectory. Unfortunately, during the negotiation, there was a refusal on his part, which also took us by surprise”, he said.

Opening Cruzeiro’s drawers, Ronaldo didn’t find any money. And, without completely discarding the possibility of giving up the task, he looks for solutions to rebuild the Belo Horizonte club.

Since closing the pre-agreement for the purchase, the former player was on Tuesday for the first time at the club’s premises. A Covid-19 infection delayed the first trip to Toca da Raposa 2, the training center for the professional team.

After speaking to journalists, he turned his attention to supporters. He repeated to them that the situation is not easy.