Matheus Gonçalves leaves Flamengo for Al-Ahli: "I need new chances" | OneFootball

On this Wednesday, through social media, the midfielder Matheus Gonçalves said goodbye to Flamengo, the club that discovered him. The Rubro-Negro has arranged the sale of the 20-year-old player to Al-Ahli, who will pay 8 million euros (about R$ 50 million). The information is from the Portal Leo Dias.

"I've experienced so many things in this club. Everything started when I was just 12 years old, playing futsal and on the field. Every time I wore the Flamengo shirt, I felt something special. Time went by and the demands increased, but I was always very happy. In the base, I won titles and friends that I will take for the rest of my life. The joy and love that I always saw in the fans were what gave me even more desire to fight for this shirt," he declared through his Instagram.

Without space in Filipe Luís's team, the midfielder returned to the under-20 team. His farewell was last Saturday, when Flamengo beat Barcelona and became bi-champion of the Intercontinental of the category.

🔗 Instagram

At the beginning of the transfer window, Matheus almost closed with Cruzeiro for 3.5 million euros (R$ 22 million), but Flamengo backed out later. Then, the Rubro-Negro rejected an offer of 7 million euros (R$ 44 million) from CSKA Moscow.

"It's different, because we play together since the under-12, under-13. Winning with them is very special. With you, Flamengo, I fulfilled the biggest dream of my life and my family: to become a professional player. In every match, you can be sure that there was always race, love and passion. The time has come to tread a new path. A difficult decision, but I need new opportunities and new challenges," he completed.

In the current season, the player had 15 opportunities in Flamengo's main team and scored only two goals. Thus, the board of the Rubro-Negro started to listen to proposals for the athlete again. Al-Ahli, the current champion of the Asian Champions League, already has two Brazilians: the defender Ibañez, ex-Fluminense and the attacker Galeno, ex-Porto.

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