Viña reveals why he swapped Flamengo for River Plate | OneFootball

Viña was loaned by Flamengo to River Plate (ARG) for 12 months

Reinforcement for River Plate (ARG) for 2026, Matías Viña spoke for the first time about the reason for leaving Flamengo. The full-back was candid and admitted that he did not expect much playing time with Alex Sandro and Ayrton Lucas as competitors. Additionally, the Uruguayan acknowledged that the serious knee injury that kept him off the field for a long period played a crucial role in the competition at Rubro-Negro.

— I wasn't getting minutes at Flamengo. We were three full-backs, I was coming back from an injury. I returned in the middle of the year, in June, they were already in pre-season since January. I had little rhythm due to the lack of minutes. And it was difficult to recover that because we were three (full-backs). When the opportunity to come here arose, I accepted because it is a big club -, said Viña, in an interview with ESPN Argentina.

WHAT ARE THE DETAILS INVOLVING FLAMENGO, VIÑA, AND RIVER?

The 28-year-old full-back was loaned to River Plate for one year. During this period, the Argentinians will pay 500 thousand dollars (R$ 2.7 million). If Viña plays at least 50% of the team's matches in the year, it will trigger the mandatory purchase clause for 5 million dollars (R$ 27 million).

It is important to highlight that Flamengo paid approximately R$ 42.8 million to sign Viña from Roma (ITA) at the beginning of 2024. However, in August of the same year, the player suffered a severe knee injury. This kept him off the field for ten months and caused him to lose his place in the Rubro-Negro squad.

WHEN DO VIÑA'S FORMER TEAMMATES RETURN TO ACTION?

While Viña is already working with the River Plate group, Alex Sandro, Ayrton Lucas, and the other players of the main squad of Flamengo will return to training next Monday (12), at Ninho do Urubu. Therefore, with the under-20 team, Mengão will debut in the Carioca this Sunday (11), against Portuguesa.

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