Wagner Ribeiro recalls English bid for Lulinha and why he did not represent Jô | OneFootball

Agent Wagner Ribeiro has revisited the early careers of Lulinha, Élton and Jô, outlining a rejected English offer for Lulinha and the choice to back Élton instead of Jô.

"There are many I worked with who never became protagonists, they were average players. I will name one, Lulinha. He was the standout in Corinthians’ academy, a South American champion in Chile with Brazil, and everyone wanted him in the first team. I brought a Tottenham offer when he was still a minor and even had a problem with Leão, who said Lulinha was very green. I told Nézi Cury, the director at the time, 'let us sell him', and he replied, 'we will not sell him'." He told ge.globo.

"He started to earn R$ 120,000, rising to R$ 280,000, but he never became what I imagined despite 297 goals in the academy. He played when Corinthians were going down to Serie B, and I think that was the reason."

After leaving in 2012, Lulinha played for Bahia, Ceará, Criciúma, Red Bull Brasil and Botafogo, then moved abroad in 2016 for spells in South Korea, the UAE, Cyprus and Japan. He is currently a key figure at Madura United in Indonesia.

"Jô’s father came to my office and practically begged for us to work with him. We liked him, but there was a boy at Corinthians called Élton, 1.56 metres, and I used to joke, 'Jô owes his career to you because the goals come from your assists'. He told me, 'Jô will make more money because he scores'. In the end I did not work with Jô, I worked with Élton."

Élton later shone in Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr and led Al-Fateh to a historic 2013 league title, then returned to Brazil with Sport and CRB. He now works in the Inter Arábia youth project.

Jô broke through at Corinthians in 2003, starred for CSKA Moscow and became Manchester City’s record signing at the time, also playing for Everton and Galatasaray. He later returned via Atlético-MG and had two more Corinthians spells, totalling 284 games, 65 goals and 21 assists, with three titles.

Source: Meu Timao

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