São Paulo sounded out move for Cape Verde star at the Copa | OneFootball

São Paulo ruled out the signing of 34-year-old center-back Roberto “Pico” Lopes, who played in the World Cup for the Cape Verde national team.

The defender, currently under contract with Shamrock Rovers of Ireland, was offered to the São Paulo club’s board by his representatives.

Although the player has a contractual clause that would allow his immediate release in the event of offers from abroad, Tricolor chose not to move forward with the talks.

During the initial approach, São Paulo’s board even inquired about the financial terms of the deal. The initial plan was for a one-year permanent contract, with the possibility of an extension for another season if performance targets were met.

The club made a salary offer equivalent to the center-back’s current wages in Irish football, but the player’s camp submitted a counteroffer with higher figures, which stalled the progress of the deal.

Progress on Domingos Duarte and the defensive situation

The decision to end negotiations with the Cape Verdean defender was finalized because São Paulo had made progress in signing Portuguese defender Domingos Duarte, who is close to being officially announced by the club’s board.

Even after the departure of Argentine Alan Franco, who was transferred to Tigres of Mexico, the Tricolor hierarchy preferred to focus its efforts on other areas of the market.

Pico Lopes, born in Ireland and naturalized as Cape Verdean, has expressed interest in playing in Brazilian football and continues to be offered by his agents to teams in Brazil’s Serie A.

At the World Cup, he was an undisputed starter in all four of Cape Verde’s matches, with the team being eliminated by Argentina in extra time in the round of 32.

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