“I believed his explanation”, says Massis on Arboleda's return | OneFootball

São Paulo president Harry Massis Júnior held a meeting on Thursday (16) with the independent niche press that covers the club. AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR was present, and we bring you everything said by the club chief during the conversation, which could not be recorded at the request of the press office.

Massis detailed the reasons that led the board and coaching staff to choose to reintegrate center-back Robert Arboleda into the professional squad.

The club chief described the defender’s conduct as serious, as he had temporarily left the club without prior notice, but stressed that the decision to bring him back was based on technical, financial, and legal criteria.

According to the executive, a formal apology from the player was a mandatory condition for his return. “He would not have been reintegrated if he had not apologized to the fans, his teammates, and the board,” the president explained.

Assessment of the clinical condition and lack of offers

The board also took into account the human aspect and the medical justification presented by the player’s camp for the period of absence.

Massis said he became convinced of the depression diagnosis presented by the center-back after internal meetings and evaluations conducted by the medical department.

From a market standpoint, the high cost of keeping the player and the lack of favorable offers made an immediate transfer unfeasible:

Fixed costs: The player has wages considered high, which made it unfeasible to keep him sidelined without making technical use of him;

Market scenario: São Paulo did not receive any offers to buy the defender’s economic rights. The only official approach came from Vitória, which requested the player on loan but without taking on his salary payments, a format that was promptly rejected by the São Paulo board.

Limitations of labor legislation

The club’s decision-making process also found both support and restrictions in the legal sphere. As highlighted by communications director Felipe Espindola, São Paulo was limited by the rules of current labor legislation.

The Ecuadorian center-back formally reported back to CT da Barra Funda exactly one day before the legal deadline that would have allowed the institution to adopt more severe punitive measures, such as terminating his contract for just cause due to job abandonment.

Given compliance with the legal deadline and the need to preserve the club’s financial asset, his reintegration into the group was approved.

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