Paulo Sérgio says Corinthians turmoil stopped Bayer Leverkusen tie-up | OneFootball

Developed by Corinthians, Paulo Sérgio enjoyed great success in his international career. A standout for Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen as a player, the former athlete now serves as an official ambassador for Bayer Leverkusen and is also the founder and manager of the Bayer 04 Football Academy in Brazil.

In an exclusive interview with Central do Timão, the 1994 World Cup champion revealed that he tried to bring Leverkusen to hold its preseason training alongside Timão, but got no response, and therefore ended up reaching an agreement with Flamengo.

Central do Timão

“Last year I brought Bayer Leverkusen to Brazil for preseason training and told the directors (at Corinthians) I could do it here. I didn’t get a response. So I did it at Flamengo’s Ninho do Urubu,” he revealed.

“I took the players to Rio de Janeiro for preseason training because I didn’t get a response from Corinthians. So for me it’s all very simple, man. If one doesn’t want it, there’s always someone else who does,” he said.

It created closer ties

Paulo Sérgio also revealed that, because of the closer relationship built with Flamengo at that time, Bayer Leverkusen looked favorably on the possible hiring of Filipe Luís to manage the team, but explained that the deal ultimately did not happen.

“Even today, because of the connection that was made with Flamengo, Filipe’s name was considered to be the coach next season. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out because he didn’t have the license. But whenever there’s a closer relationship, things end up flowing, and then we end up working together,” he explained.

Partnership with Corinthians?

In the interview, Paulo Sérgio also explained that he had the idea of a future project that could bring Corinthians and Bayer Leverkusen closer together, but that also did not happen.

“I brought them (the Germans) here to get to know Corinthians’ entire structure. I actually brought them to present this structure, because people often think that we, excuse the expression, live in a jungle. Just women, carnival, samba, and that’s it. No, quite the opposite. We have the structure. We do serious work. We have competent men and women in our country. And I bring the Germans to get to know this structure,” he began.

“They came here to the stadium. I also took them to the museum, to Parque São Jorge. I told them a bit of my story there. Germans like that. And of course, my future project was to try to create some kind of partnership in some department with Corinthians, Leverkusen-Corinthians,” he explained.

“But then things started to take a different… How can I put it? It wasn’t in line with what I had in mind, and I couldn’t put my name involved in everything that was happening. They ask me, ‘So, Paulo, how are things over there?’ And then they observe. It was a mess, debt and everything else. So I step back. I hold off, I don’t say anything more. Because unfortunately we’ve been going through unstable times at Corinthians. And that’s very bad. Very bad for the club and also for those who are going to bring something into the club,” he concluded.

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