Access denied: Qatari club blocks São Paulo loan for ex-Palmeiras | OneFootball

São Paulo has discovered that it will not have an easy time in its plans to sign winger Wesley, formerly of Palmeiras.

As AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR has learned, Al-Rayyan of Qatar, the club where the player currently plays, rejected the first approach made by the Morumbi club to sign him.

Sources from São Paulo’s top brass told the outlet that the initial talks were aimed at bringing in the 27-year-old winger on a one-season loan, with a set purchase option.

No financial offer was made by Tricolor, which only wanted to understand the framework for a possible deal. They were told that Wesley would only be allowed to leave in a permanent transfer.

In addition to Thiago Maia, a player with whom the club has been holding close talks, as previously revealed by AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR, São Paulo is looking to fulfill another request from Roger Machado involving a former player he coached during his time at Internacional: Wesley.

The player, who can operate as a winger on both flanks as well as in a second-striker role, came through at rivals Palmeiras, where despite enjoying a certain level of trust from coach Abel Ferreira, he never truly won over the fans on the other side of the wall.

Wesley has been playing for Al-Rayyan in Qatar since September of last year, when he was sold by the club from Rio Grande do Sul for €8.5 million (around R$49.6 million). There, he signed a four-year contract, but he would be willing to return to Brazil to play for Tricolor.

The reason for the mutual interest between the parties, aside from Roger’s trust in him — under whom Wesley had the best spell of his career — is the relationship the Morumbi club has built with his agent, who is also Artur’s representative. The relative success of the No. 37 in São Paulo’s current system, which favors wingers, could help boost the former Palmeiras player’s profile, the outlet heard.

In fact, Wesley has reasons to want a change of scenery. After a flying start with the Qatari side last year, he has lost some ground this season and was even left out of the squad for a few matches. Overall, he has five goals and three assists in 15 matches in the Arab world.

Using the argument of raising the player’s value will be São Paulo’s tactic to try, perhaps, to convince Al-Rayyan to accept a loan move. That is because a deal for a permanent transfer has been ruled out. The club wants to recover a good portion of the investment it made.

On top of that, Al-Rayyan does not have a history of making negotiations easy for São Paulo. In 2024, the club had even agreed on wages with defensive midfielder Thiago Mendes, now at Vasco, but the Qatari side did not want to bring forward his release even though he was nearing the end of his contract and had little prospect of being used more regularly.

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