Chicão and Batata look back on 18 months at Corinthians youth

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Central do Timão

·24 octobre 2025

Chicão and Batata look back on 18 months at Corinthians youth

By Fabio Luigi / Central do Timão Editorial Team

On the evening of last Tuesday, October 21, former defenders Batata and Chicão, who played in different eras at Corinthians and served as technical and transition coordinators in the Corinthians youth academy from January 2024 to May 2025, gave an exclusive interview to the program Alambrado Alvinegro on YouTube.

Both left the Corinthians youth academy at the end of May 2025, following the removal of Augusto Melo from the club's presidency – who would face definitive impeachment in early August – due to developments in the VaideBet Case. During the interview, the two former athletes reviewed their work at the club, shared the behind-the-scenes of their dismissal, and were questioned on various other topics.

Vidéos OneFootball

Photo: Reproduction/Corinthians TV

Below are some responses from Batata and Chicão in the interview:

Chicão

Behind the scenes of leaving the club and lamenting the 'interrupted project'

“I don't regret it because it was a great learning experience, a true learning experience. I took courses at the University. It's excellent! I have the CBF B license. I also landed in the role unexpectedly, and we tried to do our best. There was a project we developed where I managed to conduct two 'tryouts' in two cities. I was creating a situation for the club to have centers in the interior, even outside São Paulo, later on. Unfortunately, the project did not continue. We held tryouts in Palmital and Cruzeiro, with 400 children in each city. And we managed to do this without spending a dime! We were putting this idea into practice. It's a shame it didn't continue, but we were trying to find the best for the club.”

Departure of Kauê Furquim to Bahia after payment of a termination fee

“When the Furquim situation happened, I picked up my phone and called (Gui) Amorim – he was almost leaving too, and I was with Batata. I said: ‘Man, don't make a decision on impulse, because in the future, you will be the one held accountable, not the agent or the club. Make a decision with your heart.’ The next day, he renewed the contract. Later, he (Furquim) ended up going to Bahia with money from the City Group, causing a huge controversy. Osmar (Stabile) was complaining that they used foreign money to take him. The case is in court. Since Bahia belongs to the City Group, they found a contractual loophole in the values, deposited, and took him.”

“There's nothing to be done unless the boy stood his ground and said: ‘I don't want to go, I want to stay.’ Maybe he was convinced, I don't know. The point is, we never disclosed that the boys trained with the professionals, precisely because of this fear of poaching. If you expose the athlete and his release clause is low, this happens. It happened, for example, with Victor Roque at Cruzeiro, an athlete that the club went and took. I was very careful not to disclose that the boys were going to train with the professionals. Because there are boys who earn a low amount and have a low release clause. Then they think: ‘He's good, let's take him.’ Four months after my dismissal, I see that the boys are training and being exposed.”

Presence of Alex Brrasil's son, former executive of the Corinthians youth academy, playing in the Under-14 category when questioned about possible 'schemes' in the Corinthians youth academy

“Alex Brasil's son was at Palmeiras and then left. Alex took him there, but he was good with the ball, a good player. He played well recently. What matters is seeing the quality of the boy, not judging him because his father was an executive at the club. But this is difficult to happen.”

Batata

Were you surprised by the dismissal?

“The news came: Chicão called me and said: ‘We're out.’ But for me, it was no surprise. With the change of president, when the former president left, we already felt that another political group would take over, and automatically, those who supported him would leave, as is happening now. I wasn't surprised (by the departure). The only thing I regret is the interruption of the work that was being done, especially with the boys who were being used in the main team's training. But this is normal. I can only thank for the opportunity given to me. It's natural that, in a club as big as Corinthians, with the arrival of a new management, the other leaves.”

High number of signings for the Corinthians youth academy (87) – Under-17 and 20 in a year and a half + pressure to interfere in athlete selections

“Look, my role was not to hire. My responsibility was coordination on the field. I discussed, as I said, with the coaches. No, I didn't hire anyone. I only participated in one meeting with the parents and Robson, because Robson asked me to talk to a boy who was leaving. We only started having these meetings with everyone in the room later. I didn't attend meetings with agents. My role was strictly with the coaches, on the field.”

“There was an agent who told us: ‘So-and-so's father doesn't like you because the father wanted him to play.’ But I'm not the one who selects the players. That's the issue, many times you can't speak openly with an athlete, because the agent will be there the next day. The coach's behavior needs to be cautious regarding the player.”

Role of nurturing talents

“But I told them: ‘One day, I'm going to tell you what you need to hear. I'm your friend, I can't lie. I can't pat you on the back when you're doing things wrong. If I did that, I wouldn't be sincere or honest. Whether you like it or not is your choice, but I can't lie.’ That's the experience I gained with other older players I worked with. I told them: ‘We have a world champion here, the last world champion for Corinthians. Think about that. How many times did we go down at halftime, grab the defender and say: You're doing this wrong.’”

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