Access denied: Qatari club rebuffs São Paulo bid for ex-Palmeiras | OneFootball

São Paulo has discovered that life will not be easy in its plans to sign winger Wesley, formerly of Palmeiras.

According to what AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR has learned, Al-Rayyan of Qatar, the club where the player currently plays, rejected the first approach made by the Morumbi club to sign him.

Sources within São Paulo’s leadership told the outlet that the initial talks were aimed at bringing in the 27-year-old winger on a one-season loan, with a set fee for a permanent transfer.

There was no financial offer from Tricolor, which only wanted to understand the framework for a possible deal. They were told that Wesley would only be allowed to leave in a permanent sale.

In addition to Thiago Maia, a player with whom the club has been holding advanced talks, as previously reported by AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR, São Paulo is also trying to fulfill another request from Roger Machado for a former player he coached during his time at Internacional: Wesley.

The player, who can operate as a winger on either side of the field as well as in a second-striker role, came through at rival Palmeiras, where, despite enjoying a certain degree of trust from coach Abel Ferreira, he never truly won over the fans on the other side of the divide.

Wesley has been playing for Al-Rayyan in Qatar since September of last year, after being sold by the club from Rio Grande do Sul for 8.5 million euros (around R$49.6 million). He signed a four-year contract there, but would be willing to return to Brazil to play for Tricolor.

The reason for the mutual interest between the parties, besides Roger’s trust in him—under whom Wesley had the best spell of his career—is the closeness the Morumbi club has built with his agent, who is also Artur’s agent. According to what the outlet heard, the relative success of the No. 37 in São Paulo’s current system, which favors wingers, could boost the former Palmeiras player’s profile.

In fact, Wesley has reasons to want a change of scenery. After a flying start with the Qatari side last year, he has lost some space this season and was even left out of the squad for a few matches. Overall, he has five goals and three assists in 15 games in the Arab world.

Using the argument of increasing the player’s value will be São Paulo’s tactic to try, perhaps, to convince Al-Rayyan to accept a loan deal. That is because a permanent transfer is off the table. The club wants to recover a good part of the investment it made.

Moreover, Al-Rayyan does not have a history of making negotiations easy for São Paulo. In 2024, the club even agreed on wages with defensive midfielder Thiago Mendes, now at Vasco, but the Qataris did not want to bring forward his release, even though he was nearing the end of his contract and had no prospect of being used more regularly.

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