São Paulo give Arboleda 24 hours to explain, future in doubt | OneFootball

São Paulo spoke out officially for the first time, through a statement on its website, about the situation involving center-back Arboleda, who left the club before Saturday’s (4) match against Cruzeiro and traveled to Ecuador without giving any explanation to Tricolor.

In the official statement, the Morumbi club said it has taken all appropriate measures and sent a formal notice to Robert Arboleda on Monday (6), giving him 24 hours to provide an explanation and regularize his professional situation at São Paulo.

Shortly before that, football executive Rui Costa had already broken the silence and spoken about the defender’s disappearance, and he is not expected to play for the club again after missing training once more this Monday (6).

To the outlet Globo Esporte, Costa confirmed that the board still has not been able to contact the Ecuadorian, but avoided speaking about punishments and measures being decided against the player because of his behavior.

“There is no justification whatsoever for this act. It is a sign of disrespect toward the group, the management, and São Paulo’s fans. We are trying to reestablish contact with the player to resolve the case. In any event, we have our Copa Sudamericana debut this Tuesday (7), and the players are fully focused on this next challenge,” he said.

“Arboleda was called up for the match against Cruzeiro, did not show up at the Barra Funda training center and, since then, we have had no official position from the player. We have a group of committed players who know that we have a run of matches over the next two months that could define our objectives for the season,” Costa added.

This Monday, videos also began to emerge of the player at parties in Ecuador, having fun with friends and showing no concern for the club he has represented for nearly ten years.

THE CASE

AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR learned in the early hours of this Sunday (5) that the trigger for the internal crisis involving Arboleda was a reprimand from Rui Costa and Rafinha to the defender after Friday’s (3) training session over social media posts complaining about not being used regularly by coach Roger Machado. (Click here to read our opinion on the matter)

The report managed to screenshot one of those messages, but according to accounts from São Paulo officials, there were at least three others, deleted by the player, in addition to comments endorsing criticism of the coach made by fans in the replies.

Arboleda was called in for a private conversation after training at the Barra Funda training center and was instructed to stop. Roger did not take part in the meeting, nor did he bring the matter to the board. “To be honest, he didn’t even know. They preferred to deal with the matter without involving him,” a source heard by AMT said.

The Ecuadorian’s reaction to the dressing-down could not have been worse. Arboleda cleared out his locker room cabinet at the training center camp and has been unreachable ever since. Messages came through his staff. To journalists, the player’s representatives leaked the information that he would like to be transferred because he is not being used regularly by the coach.

That was still on Friday. This Saturday (4), after failing to report with the squad for lunch and pre-match preparations for the clash against Cruzeiro at the training center, the player’s family and friends did not answer even other club players. Only hours before the match did one of his agents say that Arboleda is in Ecuador and no longer wants to play for São Paulo. Club officials heard by the report doubt he could have traveled in such a short time. Resigned, the coach removed him from the matchday squad.

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