Marcos Leonardo may quit Al Hilal, São Paulo keep door open | OneFootball

Forward scores goal in the last Club World Cup (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

RAFAEL EMILIANO@rafaelemilianoo

The refusal to loan Marcos Leonardo to São Paulo until the end of the year could start a real court battle between the forward and Al Hilal, the club with which he has a contract until June 2029.

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The claim is that by not registering him to play in the Saudi Championship, Al Hilal is preventing him from practicing his profession.

This is the final move of Marcos Leonardo's dissatisfaction with the club, which went through disagreements with the new coach, Italian Simone Inzaghi, and included a nod to São Paulo, accepting to earn much less than he currently receives.

The negotiation with the Tricolor itself will be used as justification by Marcos Leonardo's lawyers in the lawsuit that should be filed in the coming days (or months).

In contrast, Al Hilal has already prepared for this possibility. As AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR previously reported, the club claims it pays Marcos Leonardo's salary on time, in addition to justifying that he is registered to compete in the Asian Champions League. Besides that, they claim they accepted a loan offer from Al Shabab, from the same country, which was refused by the forward. In other words, they are not practically preventing him from playing professional football.

The player's legal team bases their case on FIFA regulations that ensure that if a foreign player is not registered in the local league, he can take legal action against the club to terminate the contract for just cause, claiming he is being deprived of exercising his main function as a professional athlete.

Furthermore, the lawyers argue that Al Hilal acted irresponsibly by hiring more foreign players than allowed.

The justification, always good to remember, was the same used by Neymar to terminate his contract and thus sign with Santos at the beginning of the year.

Well, from São Paulo's side, there is a silent hope that the 22-year-old forward will be released from his contract with Al Hilal. The Tricolor is convinced that the proposal to play for his favorite team moved Marcos Leonardo, who was touched by the words of affection received from the fans. And it is in this context, as a free athlete, that the Tricolor dreams of having the player next season.

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