São Paulo sound out former Portugal international, but cost cools interest | OneFootball

With ten days left until the transfer window closes, São Paulo is trying to move behind the scenes to meet its final priorities in strengthening the squad, following head coach Dorival Júnior’s requests for signings. One of the areas being looked at was midfield.

One of the names sounded out by football executive Rafinha in recent days was Otávio. The 31-year-old attacking midfielder came through at Internacional, but made history with Porto, even becoming naturalized and representing the Portuguese national team.

The information was initially partially reported by the page ‘Radar da Bola‘ and confirmed to AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR by sources from São Paulo’s top brass.

He currently plays for Al-Qadsiah of Saudi Arabia, with whom he is under contract until the end of next year, with an automatic renewal clause through 2028.

According to the page, Tricolor had already made a loan offer to sign the player. But our reporting found that things are not nearly that advanced. Quite the opposite.

AMT was told that there had only been an inquiry, since he is a name identified by the scouting department and approved by Dorival. But with a market value of 10 million euros (around R$ 59.8 million), any move would only be possible as a loan.

And that’s where the complications begin, because Otávio, besides being happy at his current club, where he earns a salary Tricolor could never pay (he makes around 14 million euros per season at Al-Qadsiah, equivalent to about R$ 7 million per month), has a career goal of returning to Portugal after leaving Saudi Arabia.

In other words, to be very direct, he is a name outside the club’s reality and was quickly ruled out internally. The Tricolor club continues to look for market opportunities to strengthen Dorival’s team in this final stretch of the transfer window.

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