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Rui Costa, São Paulo's executive football director, celebrated Marcos Antônio's stay after interest from Flamengo

Targeted by Flamengo two years ago, Marcos Antônio remains at São Paulo. The fact that he resisted the pursuit of Brazil's biggest club generated pride on the São Paulo side. The executive director of the Morumbi team, Rui Costa, assured that the midfielder will not leave.

— No, I can assure São Paulo fans that Marcos Antônio's stay is related to the greatness of São Paulo. That was what was established, that was our goal throughout the negotiation, to respect the greatness of São Paulo. It's normal in the market for a player like Marcos Antônio to be desired by Flamengo and other clubs, but his presence here, the circumstances under which the negotiation was established, always took into account the size of the club we are at — said Rui Costa, to ESPN.

— And that's why I can assure the fans that Marcos Antônio will stay at São Paulo. He intends to have a long career here. Now, evidently, if a proposal comes for any player that is compatible with what São Paulo understands at that moment, what the market demands, what the budget requires, we will talk. But the negotiation of Marcos Antônio reveals a lot or confirms a lot about the greatness of São Paulo Futebol Clube — he added.

WHEN DID FLAMENGO'S INTEREST IN MARCOS ANTÔNIO ARISE?

In the middle of the 2024 season, Flamengo tried to sign Marcos Antônio from Lazio (ITA). Verbally, Mengão even reached an agreement, but according to the Italians, the Rubro-Negro took too long to put the offer in writing. Then, São Paulo was quicker and came out on top.

Marcos Antônio stood out at São Paulo, became one of the key players of the team, and remained on Flamengo's radar in 2025 and 2026. This year, Mengão tried again to sign him, but the São Paulo team increased his salary and gave him the number 8 jersey to convince the midfielder to stay.

NEED MIDFIELDERS?

Currently, Flamengo has Erick Pulgar, Jorginho, Evertton Araújo, De La Cruz, Saúl, and even Lucas Paquetá who can perform Marcos Antônio's role. Without the São Paulo player, the Most Beloved will take the field this Thursday (19th), against Remo, for the Brasileirão, starting at 8 PM (Brasília time).

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