The big-money bid for Hulk FC Porto rejected: “No need for more money” | OneFootball

Hulk signed for FC Porto in 2008, after playing for Japan’s Tokyo Verdy, and stayed at the club until 2012, when he moved to Zenit in Russia. Even so, the Brazilian international’s career could have taken a different path, as he was at one point on the radar of Premier League clubs.

“I spent four years at FC Porto and in every transfer window there was a chance I could move to England. But FC Porto always kept hold of me, they said they didn’t want to sell me… In 2011, we won the Europa League and became unbeaten national champions in that spectacular year, and FC Porto sold Falcao to Atlético Madrid. Right after that, they received an offer of 60 million euros from Manchester City for me. I only found out later, and FC Porto said they wouldn’t sell me. The club had just sold Falcao and didn’t need to raise any more money,” Hulk, now 40, began by revealing in an interview on Romário’s YouTube channel, Baixinho.

The former Dragons player also recalled his 2012 move to Zenit for 40 million euros: “Villas-Boas went to Tottenham and tried to take João Moutinho and Álvaro Pereira, but he couldn’t sign them and the transfer window in Europe closed. The market in Russia was still open for another week and I was the only player who had a Russian offer, from Zenit. I thought about it a lot, because I also had a renewal offer from FC Porto. I felt it was the right time to leave. I was going to play in the Champions League and I decided to try a different kind of football. They were investing heavily. They brought in Witsel too, Eto’o also went to Russia at that time… That weighed a lot in my decision, not just the financial side,” explained Hulk, now 40 and playing for Fluminense, recalling that his move to the Saint Petersburg club created “some discomfort in the dressing room, especially among Russian players.”

Hulk also revealed episodes of racism he experienced during his time in Russian football and recalled another case that happened while he was still at FC Porto: “I even asked to leave, but the president wouldn’t let me. Opposing fans with racist chants… I asked God to give me discernment. Then there came a point when they caught me by surprise, they started chanting against me in one corner and I started blowing kisses to the stands,” he said, not forgetting another racist incident he was subjected to while still playing for FC Porto: “It also happened in Portugal, I only saw it afterwards, in a video, in a match where I even ended up scoring a goal [against Benfica, at the Estádio da Luz, in 2011/12].”

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