Olympiacos reportedly give verbal approval for Rodinei’s release to Santos | OneFootball

For the first time in this transfer story, the biggest obstacle no longer appears to be Rodinei's contract.

It appears to have been removed. Brazilian reporting initially established that Rodinei wanted to return home and had reached terms with Santos. Globo reported that the Brazilian club was waiting for Olympiacos to release him from a deal scheduled to run until .

Rodinei could agree to anything he wanted with Santos, but until Olympiacos surrendered its contractual rights, he remained an Olympiacos player. The latest report says that position has changed. Gazzetta, citing Brazilian sources including Venê Casagrande, reports that Olympiacos have now verbally agreed to his release.

Formal documents still need to follow. But if that information is accurate, this is no longer really a negotiation over whether Rodinei will leave. It becomes a process of completing the exit.

Olympiacos are choosing transition over continuity

This is noteworthy because Rodinei has hardly been a peripheral player. He has accumulated 157 appearances, 12 goals and 28 assists for Olympiacos. More importantly, he became one of the defining personalities of the club's modern era. The 2024 Conference League triumph cannot be separated from Rodinei's contribution. His energy down the right, aggressive overlapping, ability to combine around the penalty area and emotional connection with the team made him far more than a conventional fullback. Yet football squad building eventually becomes an exercise in timing.

Rodinei is 34. Olympiacos have just invested in Marcus Pedersen, while Manolis Saliakas has returned to the club. That makes the positional logic obvious. Keeping three established right-backs would create a crowded hierarchy, particularly when one of them is entering the final season of his contract. Allowing Rodinei to return to Brazil therefore looks less like Olympiacos deciding he can no longer contribute and more like both sides recognizing that the squad has entered a new cycle.

Pedersen’s arrival now looks directly connected

The sequence is difficult to ignore. Olympiacos explored Dodô. That move failed. They completed Marcus Pedersen and shortly afterward, Rodinei's representatives were permitted to explore an exit.

Now the club has reportedly agreed to release him. Pedersen is not merely additional depth under that scenario. He becomes the likely long-term first-choice solution on the right. That places even greater importance on his adaptation to Mendilibar's football. Pedersen provides pace, vertical running and considerably younger legs. But replacing Rodinei means replacing more than raw athleticism.

Olympiacos are losing creativity and chemistry on the right side as well. That burden will need to be distributed between Pedersen, the winger ahead of him and the midfield.

The Saliakas injury suddenly matters even more

There is one complication. Manolis Saliakas was forced out of the 1–0 win over Asteras AKTOR after assisting Jota Silva's winner. We still do not have a confirmed diagnosis or recovery timetable. If Rodinei formally departs while Saliakas is unavailable, Olympiacos could temporarily move from having excessive right-back depth to having Pedersen as the only fully fit senior specialist.

That does not necessarily change the transfer decision. But it makes the medical update on Saliakas considerably more important. It is now one of the specific items I am watching closely.

Santos get exactly the profile they need

The Brazilian side's interest also makes sporting sense. Brazilian reporting describes Santos as actively trying to rebuild its fullback positions, and ge reported that the club only wanted the transaction if Rodinei could arrive without a transfer fee.

Olympiacos granting a release solves that problem. Rodinei gets the return to Brazil he wants. Santos gets an experienced right-back without paying a conventional transfer fee. Olympiacos clears a veteran salary and opens the position for its newer players. That is the type of deal where all three parties have an obvious reason to complete it.

But I am not calling Rodinei a Santos player yet

There is still an important difference between verbal permission to leave and contract termination.

Olympiacos have not yet published a farewell. Santos have not announced Rodinei. And I have not located an official registration confirming the transfer. Those are the next thresholds. Once the termination documents are signed — assuming this reporting is correct — the Santos announcement should become largely procedural.

For Olympiacos supporters, however, the broader conclusion is already becoming difficult to avoid: one of the central characters of the Conference League era appears to be reaching the end of his time in Piraeus.