Angelo skips Copinha, São Paulo unlikely to get bonus | OneFootball

The Copinha 2026 has already begun, with a good victory for São Paulo in the debut, but one of the club's great youth prospects is not participating in the main under-20 competition in the country. Right-back Angelo has already been negotiated by the Tricolor to Europe.

The absence was decided jointly by the player's staff and the Tricolor management. As initially reported by the portal Globo Esporte, Angelo departed last Saturday (3) for France, where he will spend a month training with Strasbourg, his future team.

The São Paulo right-back was actually negotiated back in 2025 to the investment group BlueCo, which owns not only Strasbourg but also the English club Chelsea, which is expected to be Angelo's future if he performs as expected in Europe.

The time in France will serve for the Cotia gem to start adapting to the city, as well as the club and his teammates from 2027. He will only be able to join the new team next year, as he will turn 18 in November 2026.

Thus, aside from this January, when he will have a 'pre-adaptation' in France, Angelo has another whole year ahead defending the Tricolor jersey. However, in the professional team, it will be difficult to see him play.

The right-back, who draws a lot of attention for his offensive qualities, has not even consolidated himself in the under-20 team, where he played only four games in 2025, but with one goal and two assists. The competition is fierce.

HEAVY COMPETITION

Maik left the youth team to pass the baton to Igor Felisberto, another promising right-back, who has even attended training sessions in Barra Funda during Thiago Carpini's time. Besides him, Lucyan is another São Paulo prospect for the position. Recently promoted from the under-17 team, Angelo is at the end of the priority line for coach Allan Barcellos.

In the under-17 category, he frequently received call-ups for the Brazilian National Team, where he was the South American champion and a semifinalist in the Under-17 World Cup.

If his presence in the under-20 will be highly contested, with the professionals, the chance is quite small. There is some expectation since São Paulo included in the sale contract a clause that grants the club an additional 2 million euros (about R$ 12.7 million) if Angelo plays at least two thousand minutes (a little over 22 matches) in Hernán Crespo's team before the transfer.

In the transaction, the Tricolor sold its revelation for 5 million euros (R$ 32.3 million at the time), and has already received half of this amount. The second part will be paid by the end of this season. São Paulo still retained 12.5% of his economic rights in a future negotiation.

Currently, Crespo has in the squad for the right-back position the Cotia product Maik, in addition to the Portuguese Cédric Soares, who has not won over the fans. The club also has a pre-contract with Lucas Ramon from Mirassol, but is still working behind the scenes to secure the early release of the 31-year-old player, who has a contract until early April with the interior team.

Thus, it does not seem likely that São Paulo has plans to use the youngster due to the bonus, as the position has strong competition, and the club rushed to sign another veteran for 2026.

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