Al Hilal demand big fee for Marcos Leonardo, São Paulo pull out | OneFootball

Ex-Santos player will not be joining Tricolor (Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)

RAFAEL EMILIANO@rafaelemilianoo

Marcos Leonardo will not be joining São Paulo for the rest of the season. After a grueling negotiation, with meetings throughout Tuesday (2), the Morumbi club has ended talks with Al Hilal this evening, on the eve of the transfer window closing.

As reported by AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR, the Saudi club remained firm throughout the negotiation, not agreeing to release the 22-year-old striker for free.

On the contrary, the directors of the Asian team, who promised to think and respond to São Paulo calmly in the afternoon, after pressure from the player and his agent, came back with two counterproposals. In the first, they demanded a price higher than what the Morumbi club could pay for the release until December. Then, they agreed to release Marcos Leonardo for the same amount, but for a period of one year.

In both cases, São Paulo emphasized that they do not have the financial means. Al Hilal's claim is that Marcos Leonardo, being valued, has offers at these levels and it would not make sense to release the player without compensation.

In a final move, the Tricolor directors still tried to encourage the Saudis by offering to pay Marcos Leonardo's salary in full for the period he would stay at Morumbi. No deal.

The striker remains at Al Hilal, who did not register him for the Saudi League and, therefore, he is only available to play in the Asian Champions League.

This is a loss for São Paulo in terms of having their desired replacement for André Silva. The club sees the transfer window close without signing a center forward. They only have Dinenno for the remaining Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Championship matches.

The effort of Marcos Leonardo to play for Tricolor, his childhood team and also his family's team, is acknowledged. In pursuit of maintaining his game rhythm, playing on a big stage, and increasing his chances of being called up to the Brazilian National Team, the player agreed to significantly reduce his salary.

São Paulo closes its transfer window with the signing of four players, midfielder Rigoni, winger Tapia, defender Rafael Tolói, and right-back Maílton.

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