Urgent: São Paulo eye Internacional product and Botafogo Angolan CB | OneFootball

With Rafinha now unofficially acting as the strongman of football affairs, São Paulo decided to make a move in the transfer market this Monday (29).

As AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR has learned, the Morumbi club made formal inquiries about two players in positions considered weak spots in the squad: center-back Bastos and defensive midfielder Rodrigo Dourado.

At 32, Dourado came through at Internacional and has been playing in Mexican football since 2022. At the start of this year, at the request of André Jardine, former São Paulo manager, he was signed by América, the biggest club in the North American country.

The deal looks difficult. Despite the midfielder’s desire to return to Brazil, he cost 2.5 million euros (around R$ 14.8 million), certainly an amount América will try to recover at least part of.

São Paulo’s board made contact to assess the conditions of a deal and is initially working with the possibility of a loan with an option to buy.

Tricolor’s priority for the position was Newton, from Botafogo, but negotiations with the Rio club have stalled, and the decision has been made to seek alternatives. As AMT revealed, Thiago Maia is also being monitored.

OPTION FOR THE DEFENSE

Speaking of Botafogo, another player from the team has entered São Paulo’s radar: Angolan defender Bastos.

At 35, he is under contract with Botafogo only until the end of the year and has already indicated that he does not want to extend the deal.

At the moment, according to reports, his name is being evaluated internally. The idea would be to sign a pre-contract and negotiate an early release with the Rio club.

A position considered a priority to strengthen, the defense was reinforced by Arboleda, who was reintegrated after a disciplinary issue. Even so, coach Dorival Júnior is asking for the signing of another player for the sector.

The Morumbi club held talks over Arthur Chaves, who plays in German football, but Hoffenheim has rejected all loan offers made so far by the Brazilians.

The same situation applies to Portuguese defender Domingos Duarte. After the player turned down the contract offer made to him (he becomes a free agent starting this week), São Paulo was overtaken by Olympiakos of Greece, which drove up the figures and is likely to make Tricolor walk away from the negotiations again.

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