Al Hilal demand big fee, São Paulo end Marcos Leonardo chase | OneFootball

Ex-Santos player will not be a reinforcement for Tricolor (Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)

RAFAEL EMILIANO@rafaelemilianoo

Marcos Leonardo will not be a reinforcement for São Paulo for the remainder of the season. After an exhausting negotiation, with meetings throughout all of Tuesday (2), the Morumbi club has definitively ended talks with Al Hilal tonight, on the eve of the transfer window closing.

As reported by AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR, the Saudi club remained unyielding throughout the negotiations, refusing to release the 22-year-old striker for free.

On the contrary, the Asian club’s directors, who had promised to think it over and calmly respond to São Paulo in the afternoon after pressure from the player and his agent, came back with two counterproposals. In the first, they demanded an amount higher than what the Morumbi club could pay for a release until December. Then, they agreed to loan Marcos Leonardo for the same amount, but for a period of one year.

In both cases, São Paulo emphasized that it does not have the financial means. Al Hilal’s argument is that Marcos Leonardo, now valued, has offers at those levels and that it would not make sense to release the player without compensation.

In a last-ditch effort, the Tricolor directors even tried to entice the Saudis by offering to pay Marcos Leonardo’s full salary during the period he would stay at Morumbi. No deal.

The striker remains at Al Hilal, which did not register him for the Saudi League, meaning he is only available to play in the Asian Champions League.

A loss for São Paulo in terms of having their long-awaited replacement for André Silva. The club sees the transfer window close without signing a center forward. They only have Dinenno for the remainder of the Copa Libertadores and the Brazilian Championship.

Marcos Leonardo’s effort to play for Tricolor, his childhood club and that of his family, remains. In pursuit of his goal to maintain match fitness, play on a big stage, and increase his chances of being called up to the Brazilian National Team, the player agreed to significantly reduce his salary.

São Paulo closes its transfer window with the signing of four players: midfielder Rigoni, winger Tapia, center-back Rafael Tolói, and right-back Maílton.

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