Casares wants Rui Costa to replace Belmonte at Barra Funda | OneFootball

The behind-the-scenes at São Paulo, which had seemed calm since superintendent Márcio Carlomagno began working daily at the Barra Funda training center, have become turbulent again with the leak of information that the club is negotiating a new contractual agreement with its football executive Rui Costa.

The information was initially reported by the portal ‘Globo Esporte‘ as a negotiation to extend the professional’s contract. But, as AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR revealed, there is some internal resistance to this. Costa has a contract with the Morumbi club until the end of next year, which is precisely when the current term of president Julio Casares ends. In practice, with the succession in disarray and no clear candidate from the president to be chosen, the presence of the professional with a new management pleases no one, from the executive himself to political allies.

After a few hours of the colleagues’ report being published, new internal information was leaked. One is that Carlomagno approved Costa’s work after observing things more closely. Others say the executive has been gaining more space, now being the one who travels with the team and who intermediates negotiations between the board and the squad, for example.

Both are correct. But on the other hand, they expose a somewhat ‘perverse’ point: football director Carlos Belmonte is increasingly sidelined by Casares. And as AMT found out on the morning of this Tuesday (4), the insistence on ‘promoting’ Costa has to do with his decision to remove Belmonte from his administration once and for all.

This is not necessarily new information. We have already revealed here previously that at the moment of the club’s greatest internal crisis, after being eliminated from the Copa Libertadores and failing to string together a series of victories in the Brazilian Championship, Casares was heavily pressured by allies for changes to occur at Barra Funda. And here it can be read that the main one was Belmonte’s departure.

However, there are two problems. The first, more obvious, Casares did not want to strengthen the opposition by firing the football director who was once his great ally. The other, more practical, is the absence of a name to replace him without causing more friction with his support base. Professional football is São Paulo’s flagship. It is the most prestigious position. And the chosen one would be seen as an obvious indication of the president’s choice for his succession.

The solution, then, for the indecisive president, who does not want to displease either side, would be to make Costa permanent, an outsider, which would even help him project a more professional image as he bids farewell to the seat of power, fundamental to slightly repair his tarnished image this year, when he began to be insulted in the stands.

Besides that, it would have, let’s say, a lesser impact. Yes, Belmonte may be cursed by fans (and even by directors), but he has gained status in his five years in the position, being respected by players, agents, and even rival directors. Roughly speaking, making Costa permanent would represent continuity.

On the other hand, Carlomagno’s entry into the daily routine at the training center had exactly this aim of increasing loyalty at Barra Funda, a terrain that became more treacherous for the ‘staunch Casaristas’, with Belmonte increasingly distanced from the president. But the plan backfired. The superintendent was supposed to come in kicking down the door. But he found an environment controlled by Belmonte. And surrounded by people who became loyal to the director. From implicit rivalry, complicity emerged between the two. And came the internal announcement from the chosen one that his plans do not include running for succession.

The report has already previously revealed that Casares and Belmonte have not been on the same page for about three months, since Belmonte was insulted by a club director in a message leaked through an app. Despite the atmosphere of complicity that Casares tried to convey in a press conference at the Barra Funda training center, things have only gotten more complicated since then, after the football director became certain he would not be nominated to run for president’s succession at the end of next year. And he emphasized that his political group is against the investment fund (FIP) project for the youth categories in Cotia.

The problem for the president is that Costa is being approached to return to Grêmio in 2026 and shows unexpected loyalty (to Casares) with Belmonte.

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