Wage cap and Zenit demands: why Flamengo ended Luiz Henrique talks | OneFootball

Negotiations between Flamengo and Luiz Henrique’s camp came to an end this Friday (08)

Flamengo’s pursuit of Luiz Henrique has come to an end, and the club did not sign any reinforcements for the Libertadores round of 16. But why did the talks to sign the forward fall through? Coluna do Fla looked into what happened behind the scenes.

At the start of the talks, Flamengo indicated an offer to Zenit (RUS) for Luiz Henrique worth 20 million euros (around 116.9 million reais). However, the Russian club set a much higher financial demand to negotiate the player: 30 million euros fixed (around 175.4 million reais) plus 5 million euros in bonuses (around 29.2 million reais). On the other hand, Flamengo’s board never put an official offer on the table for those amounts.

WHAT FINANCIAL CEILING DID FLAMENGO SET?

President Luiz Eduardo Baptista, known as Bap, set a ceiling of 25 million euros (around 146.2 million reais) for the signing of Luiz Henrique and passed that directive on to José Boto, Flamengo’s football director. That way, the executive handled all talks knowing that budget limit.

HOW DID THE MEETINGS THAT SEALED THE END OF THE NEGOTIATIONS GO?

Before the ball rolled for the match between Flamengo and Internacional in Porto Alegre on July 29, José Boto met in person with William Bento, one of Luiz Henrique’s agents. Naturally, the meeting did not happen by chance, as the main objective was to discuss the forward’s possible transfer.

The talks continued. At the same time, Flamengo also wanted to sign another player: midfielder Thiago Almada. However, the Argentine player ended up joining River Plate (ARG).

According to Coluna do Fla, even with Flamengo’s good relationship with Atlético de Madrid (ESP), the club that holds the Argentine midfielder’s rights, one key factor stopped the move. The player demanded wages above what Flamengo’s top brass were willing to pay, and the deal collapsed.

As a result, the football department focused exclusively on Luiz Henrique. Although it preferred full payment upfront, Zenit showed flexibility and even agreed to installments on its initial asking price, mainly because the player himself had clearly expressed his desire to return to Rio de Janeiro.

Finally, this Friday (07), a new meeting between José Boto and Luiz Henrique’s agent took place, this time at Ninho do Urubu. The conversation served precisely for the executive to inform him that Flamengo would not raise its financial offer.

Because of that, shortly after the meeting, the player’s camp officially announced the end of the negotiations. “Due to a series of events that made the progress of the deal difficult, the parties have not reached an agreement at this time,” it said in a statement.

An important detail is that Flamengo never formally submitted a proposal to Zenit. After all, the two boards did not reach a prior verbal agreement on the figures.

DID FLAMENGO REALLY END UP WITHOUT REINFORCEMENTS FOR THE LIBERTADORES?

The deadline to register players for the Libertadores round of 16 expired at 6 p.m. (Brasília time) this Friday (07). As a result, Flamengo will face Cruzeiro on August 12 and 19 without any new additions to the squad.

The Rio club will only be able to add new players to the continental competition squad list if it qualifies for the quarterfinals. It is worth noting that the transfer window remains open until September 11. Until then, the board will continue to monitor the market for reinforcements.

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