Arboleda is back, and São Paulo weigh up window replacements | OneFootball

Arboleda returned to São Paulo. But, as has been widely reported, he is completely out of the club’s plans. And while the 34-year-old Ecuadorian will train on a separate schedule, the Morumbi club is evaluating other names for the defense, a position established as a priority for new signings in the transfer window that will open in July.

The biggest internal dream, as AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR has already revealed, is Willyan Rocha, a request from head coach Roger Machado.

This 31-year-old from Rio de Janeiro has never played professionally for any major club in Brazilian football. Developed in Flamengo’s youth system, he also spent time at Grêmio and played on loan for Desportiva Capixaba and Votuporanguense before establishing a career abroad, with spells in Portugal and Russia before joining Qatar’s Al-Jazira in August 2025. There in Asia, he made 21 appearances and recorded one assist.

Rocha’s name has come up at São Paulo on at least two other occasions. In 2022, before moving to CSKA in Russia, he was offered to the Morumbi club by agents. The following year, amid the war in Ukraine, there was speculation that he could be loaned to Tricolor, which instead chose to sign Alan Franco.

At the first opportunity, the player did not hide his desire to move to Tricolor. He even posted a story on his social media watching one of the team’s Campeonato Paulista matches.

According to the report, the player wants to return to Brazilian football, and inquiries have been made by Tricolor, which has not yet officially opened more concrete talks. For now, the biggest obstacle is the possible fee to be paid to Al-Jazira for his release, since Rocha’s market value is estimated at US$4 million (around R$20 million). As is well known, money has not exactly been abundant at São Paulo.

OTHER OPTIONS

Internally, the board already has one name seen as easy to sign: Juninho. The 31-year-old player, developed by Coritiba, with spells at rivals Palmeiras and Bahia, worked with Roger at both clubs and had his signing requested at Internacional last year.

Left-footed, he can also play as a left-back, but he has lost ground under Paulo Pezzolano, the Colorado manager. This season, he has made only seven appearances, just one of them in the Brazilian Championship. His contract runs until the end of next year.

AMT has learned that the initial contact was made by Juninho’s camp, which offered him to Tricolor given the coach’s well-known admiration for his football.

The understanding inside São Paulo is that it would be an easy deal, since the club from Rio Grande do Sul wants to offload Juninho to reduce its wage bill and make room for other signings.

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