Boto on why Flamengo's Arrascaeta never went to Europe

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Coluna do Fla

·22 July 2026

Boto on why Flamengo's Arrascaeta never went to Europe

Boto puts Flamengo above Crystal Palace (ENG) while explaining why Arrascaeta never moved to Europe

Arrascaeta has been one of the top players active in Brazilian and South American football for the past few seasons. However, despite his strong performances, the player has never transferred to Europe. With that in mind, José Boto put Flamengo above Crystal Palace (ENG) while trying to explain why the player never went to the ‘Old Continent’.

– That’s a question I ask myself many times, and I also bear that responsibility, since I worked at European clubs, for not having seen Arrascaeta’s value. He is one of the greatest players at finding space that I have ever seen. Maybe he never had much media attention, maybe it was his age. In European football, players who are 24 or 25 years old are no longer worth that many millions –, he said, before concluding: – It is a bit inexplicable that a player with his class has never played in Europe. He has had some opportunities, but it is not easy to make a fair swap against Flamengo, with all due respect to Crystal Palace. At his physical peak, Arrascaeta would play for the five biggest clubs in Europe –, José Boto concluded in an interview with ‘ESPN’.

Throughout his career, Arrascaeta has played for only three teams, all of them in South American football. The midfielder’s journey began at Defensor (URU), and he later moved to Cruzeiro in 2015. Finally, in 2019, the player arrived at Flamengo, where he began writing a beautiful story with the Rubro-Negro.

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WHAT HAS ARRASCAETA’S JOURNEY AT FLAMENGO BEEN LIKE?

Since arriving at Flamengo, Arrascaeta has been piling up titles and records in the red-and-black shirt. Among the most important achievements are two Copa Libertadores titles, two Copa do Brasil trophies, and three Brazilian league titles.

This season, Arrascaeta achieved yet another milestone while playing for Flamengo. That is because, in the middle of this year, Mengão’s number 10 was called up to represent Uruguay in his second World Cup.

WHAT IS ARRASCAETA’S CURRENT SITUATION AT FLAMENGO?

After returning from the World Cup, Arrascaeta continued his recovery from the muscle injury he suffered during Uruguay training. Recovered from the injury, the Uruguayan is training normally with his teammates and, as a result, traveled with the squad for the match against Chapecoense.

WHAT IS FLAMENGO’S NEXT MATCH?

With Arrascaeta available, Flamengo will face Chapecoense this Wednesday (22) as the Brasileirão resumes. In short, the match kicks off at 9:30 p.m. (Brasília time) at Arena Condá, in Chapecó. As usual, Coluna do Fla TV will cover all the details of the match on YouTube, as well as on its website and social media. Finally, Rede Globo (free-to-air TV) and Premiere (pay-per-view) will broadcast the clash.

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