Boto admits Flamengo may sell 3 after betting ban, clears Bap on Paquetá | OneFootball

Executive ruled out the risk of salary delays and detailed emergency meetings with Flamengo’s president after the betting ban

Flamengo football director José Boto spoke again this Thursday (01) about the impacts of the federal government’s provisional measure banning betting companies in Brazil. In response to reporter Rock Hudson, from Coluna do Fla, the executive clarified that, at first, the measure will not affect the contract renewals of the current squad players. On the other hand, the director admitted that the loss of sponsorships could force the club to negotiate some players and run the risk of being unable to replace them with the same quality in the market.

— In principle, no (it will not impact any player’s renewal), in principle, no, not renewals. It will even make us take even better care of what we already have. Since we can’t go out and buy, perhaps — because to buy we need money, and that is something we do not have at the moment, we do not have that sponsorship, in the worst-case scenario, we are talking about the worst-case scenario —, the worst-case scenario may be that we have to sell one player, or two or three players, and not be able to replace them with the same quality, he explained.

It is worth remembering that Flamengo is in talks to renew the contracts of players such as Danilo, Pedro and Léo Pereira. Recently, the club secured the stays of Erick Pulgar, Bruno Henrique and Alex Sandro.

IMPACT OF THE BETTING BAN

Behind the scenes, Flamengo’s board estimates a financial hole of R$ 430 million caused by the betting ban. Given the impact, José Boto highlighted the constant coordination with the presidency to work around the problem and guaranteed that the situation will not affect the club’s payroll.

— I spoke a little while ago and explained a bit of the impact this may have and that we are working on it. I have been working with the president since last week. I was in Portugal and we were having meetings by phone. Yesterday the president spent four hours here at Ninho working on these issues, the executive began.

— These issues will never affect the players’ salaries, they will not. Therefore, I guarantee to you that Flamengo will not delay a salary payment, will not fail to pay employees and its players, who are obviously club employees. So, it does not have that kind of impact, he said.

BOTO CLARIFIES BAP’S STATEMENT

A recent statement by Luiz Eduardo Baptista, Flamengo’s president, generated strong repercussions behind the scenes. While listing the losses the club will suffer from the government’s decision to ban betting houses, Bap mentioned the signing of Lucas Paquetá and cast doubt on how Rubro-Negro will settle the deal, which cost more than R$ 315 million in transfer fee, bonuses and intermediary fees.

In light of the reaction, football director José Boto moved to clarify the real intention behind the president’s remark. The executive explained that the concern is not limited exclusively to the midfielder, but rather to the impact that the loss of revenue will have on the legal commitments undertaken by the club.

— When the president says, “How am I going to pay for Paquetá?”, it is not Paquetá, it is the agreements that were signed, which were signed taking into account that we had signed contracts, legally signed contracts. This is like in your homes: you count on your salary money; if suddenly they stop paying your salary, you will not be able to pay for your house, you will not be able to pay for your car, he began.

— And that is what is happening here. We took on commitments, we have commitments in January, important commitments, and the question is how we are going to meet those commitments, what impact this has on planning for the 2027 season, which we are working on and always working for the worst-case scenario. In the worst-case scenario, we will never stop paying the players’ salaries, delay salaries, delay image-rights payments to players and to all club employees, José Boto said.

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