The agreement between Ronaldo and Cruzeiro around the SAF (Sociedade Anônima do Futebol) took on the contours of a clash throughout the week. O Phenomenon signaled with new demands by means of what it said were debts that previously would not be incumbent on SAF, and even threatened to drop the deal with the Minas Gerais team.
“We have to accelerate this, because, if I don’t have these guarantees, it is very difficult to continue in the process and evolve in the project, because, even for us to have new investors, sponsorships, the market is waiting for this definition”, said the former player and businessman in his live on Tuesday (15).
On the other hand, a letter that would only be for Ronaldo, prepared by the Board of Directors of the Deliberative Council of the club, ended up leaking, which added fuel to the fire.
According to Nagib Simões, a member of the Board and one of the signatories of the letter, what the Cruzeiro association wants is just to review details of the agreement with Ronaldo after the new requirements.
The Phenomenon wants Toca da Raposa I and Toca da Raposa II (training centers for the basic and professional categories, respectively) to be linked to the SAF. And it requires the immediate approval of the club’s extrajudicial or judicial recovery request so that old debts can be renegotiated.
“We don’t want to abort anything with Ronaldo. We want him to stay, his name is worth more than money, but we have to align some things”, said the leader. “Toca II, for example, has nothing to do with tax debt, only the [Toca] I is alienated. I think it’s cool for Toca II to stay with him (with the SAF), but there needs to be alignment, that’s all, and then the deal will be approved in the blink of an eye.”
Simões refers to a tax debt of the club with the Attorney General’s Office of the National Treasury (PGFN). In the agreement, Toca da Raposa I was placed as collateral.
Asked if this alignment with the Phenomenon involves an increase in the percentage to which the association would be entitled —today it is 10% against 90% of the investor—, Simões deflected the conversation.
However, Régis Campos, another who appears as a signatory of the document as a member of the Support Commission for the Constitution of the Anonymous Football Society, stated that this is the intention.
“The idea was to show Ronaldo’s people, discuss with them. [Mesa Diretora] they wanted a percentage higher than 10%”, said Campos. “They are not against Ronaldo, they are in full agreement and they know it is beneficial for the club. But they want to guarantee another percentage for when the club appreciates, is back in Serie A, to be able to sell that part and reinvest in the SAF for the signing of players.”
While describing the plan in detail, Campos said his name should not have been linked to the letter. He is not currently part of Cruzeiro’s membership.
“The name that should be entered was that of a member of the fiscal council. I did not participate in meetings, negotiations, I have nothing to do with it. I am part of the commission that monitors the sale of SAF. club Serginho [Sérgio Santos Rodrigues, presidente] was elected and helped him, introduced the club to XP [mediadora do acerto entre Ronaldo e Cruzeiro]I helped in the approval of this SAF, but I did not participate in the letter”, he added.
Nagib Simões, who is a member of the Board of Directors, expressed surprise and discontent with the work carried out by XP. According to him, in December the company stated that there were 17 interested in negotiating with Cruzeiro, but less than 12 hours after the approval of the SAF, it presented Ronaldo as the owner.
“We wanted the association to be majority, but we knew that we would find it difficult to maintain the percentage of 51% [clube] at 49% [investidor]”, Simões said. “Then we had to give a lot of explanation, convincing, in a long process, and we managed to approve what was best, the SAF being up to 90% of an investor. But we were stunned. We approved it on a Friday night and on Saturday morning we learned from the press that Ronaldo was the owner.”
Simões says that the councilors were not even aware of what the other 16 proposals could be. He says that XP assured that Ronaldo would invest R$400 million and would still assume the club’s debts, a reality that proved to be different throughout the week with the disclosure of previously confidential documents.
“It would be R$ 400 million of investment, plus the debt. It was passed on to everyone, but it’s not quite like that. Where are the other proposals? It was never shown any other than Ronaldo. The name Ronaldo is fantastic, but we know everything afterwards”, complained the counselor.
Sought by the report, XP said it “always seeks the best possible negotiation for its client”. In a note, “it reiterates that the amount to be invested will be R$ 400 million” and states that, in the text of the Board of Directors, “there are technical inaccuracies and erroneous interpretations of the format of the contributions”.
“As financial advisor to Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, we made presentations to approximately one hundred potential investors from different countries over three months, and only two proposals were sent, which demonstrates the club’s serious financial problems”, says XP.
The problems between Ronaldo and the board grew last Monday (14), after a meeting lasting more than two hours. The former player demanded that the two training centers be under the responsibility of the SAF, in addition to the approval of the request for judicial or extrajudicial recovery.
The club’s president, Sérgio Santos Rodrigues, released two notes in support of the ace. Ronaldo’s argument was that it was not previously foreseen that around R$ 200 million in tax debts would fall on SAF.
“Our proposal is to assume this debt, with this small guarantee, which are the two Burrows for the SAF, so that we guarantee that we would not have this risk of attachment, of losing the two Burrows, which are our places of work “, said the player, in the live.
Still according to Ronaldo, the idea would be to be responsible for a renegotiation of the tax debt. “It honors the payment, guarantees the ownership of Toca I, and, at the end of the payment, the Tocas would pass to the SAF. With that, I can guarantee that Cruzeiro does not lose the Tocas and will never be without training. We have to safely develop this great asset of our Cruzeiro.”
In response, the leaders broke the confidentiality clause of the agreement signed in December. They explained that, instead of BRL 400 million, Ronaldo would have to invest only BRL 50 million, with the remaining BRL 350 million being “increased revenue”.
According to the contract, this increase comes from the “average annual revenue, calculated based on the weighted average of revenues earned by Cruzeiro in the period between 2017 and 2021”. That is, Ronaldo will have to take money out of his own pocket only if the average is below that amount.
Sought, Ronaldo did not respond to the contact of the report until the publication of this text.
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