São Paulo uncover club keen on Arboleda, contract axe shelved | OneFootball

AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR revealed this Tuesday (5) that one of the reasons São Paulo backed away from terminating Arboleda’s contract was mainly the suspicion that the 34-year-old center-back had already reached a verbal agreement with another team.

Well, it was true.

Sources from São Paulo’s top brass told our reporting team that Arboleda and his staff wanted to get out of his deal with the Morumbi club because they were in talks with Athletico-PR.

According to Tricolor executives, the Paraná-based club was close to agreeing on salary terms to sign the defender as a reinforcement as soon as he managed to secure his release from São Paulo.

Now, as planned, São Paulo officials are waiting for Athletico to make contact so they can release Arboleda when the new transfer window opens in July.

For now, the information coming from Morumbi is that the Curitiba-based club is monitoring the situation. Word is that the Paraná club sees room to invest and put money into the deal, but will wait to see the Ecuadorian’s behavior over the next few days.

THE CASE

Arboleda is back at São Paulo. After nearly a month away, the 34-year-old center-back reported back on Monday afternoon (4) at the Barra Funda training center and, as AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR had already revealed, it was decided that he will be fined and will continue training separately until the next transfer window, when he is expected to be transferred.

Sources from São Paulo’s top brass told our reporting team some of the reasons why the plan to terminate the Ecuadorian’s contract, which runs through the end of 2027, was abandoned.

“We are prioritizing financial protection and disciplinary control over an immediate break,” said one of the people consulted.

After reporting back to the Barra Funda training center accompanied by his representatives, the Ecuadorian was formally reprimanded by the football department leadership, made up of Rui Costa and Rafinha, who made their dissatisfaction with his unjustified absence clear.

As an administrative punishment, the player suffered a severe cut to his pay, equivalent to one month’s salary, and remains subject to further fines under the club’s internal regulations.

But the refusal to terminate the contract is based on a technical risk assessment. Legally, just cause was weakened by the player’s return before the 30-day period that characterizes job abandonment, which could drag the club into an uncertain and costly legal dispute.

Without reaching 30 consecutive days of disappearance, Arboleda has grounds—especially at FIFA—not only to win a legal case against São Paulo, but also to pocket compensation. “People only look at Brazilian labor laws, but forget that this is an international case,” said a club source consulted.

On the other hand, a mutual termination was ruled out because it was seen as a strategic contradiction: besides generating no financial compensation, it would allow the defender to strengthen direct rivals at no cost, turning an act of indiscipline into a direct benefit for the offender.

“He never hid that his goal was to leave São Paulo. Obviously, there is no atmosphere for him to stay. But authorizing his departure as if nothing had happened, besides fulfilling his wish, would create a dangerous precedent for other players who want to do the same. There is still one year left on his contract. And São Paulo cannot afford that luxury,” he pointed out.

AMT had previously revealed that the Morumbi club was well aware that there were interested parties in Arboleda just waiting for his contract to be terminated so they could sign him.

Given this scenario, São Paulo adopted a productive isolation approach for the player. Arboleda will undergo a full battery of clinical exams and performance tests to assess the impact of the period of inactivity, followed by an individualized physical reconditioning schedule.

First and foremost, this is a measure meant to show interested clubs that the defender is in full condition to be transferred. “This is a stage of physical and disciplinary recovery, whose final objective is to keep the player in marketable condition so he can be transferred or included in swap deals as soon as the next transfer window opens,” summarized a source consulted by AMT.

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