Boto: Working with academy, says Palmeiras lack Flamengo’s stature | OneFootball

The football director of Flamengo, José Boto, gave an interview to the podcast “No Princípio Era a Bola“, from the Portuguese newspaper Tribuna Expresso, and spoke about the use of youth academy players. The executive compared the work done at Rubro-Negro with that of Palmeiras and stated that Verdão “does not have the same greatness.”

Boto was asked about the importance of providing comfort to young players when they are used in the professional team. He admitted that Palmeiras, in this regard, is more advanced and cited as an example a Flamengo U-17 player who was selected by Filipe Luís and received criticism for his performance.

Flamengo director highlights difference in transition to the professional team

“In this respect, Palmeiras is ahead, without a doubt. Not in terms of having better players in development, but in the transition to the professional team. We are going to try to move in that direction. One of the things we did was with Alfredo Almeida, to have a direct connection with us, knowing that these are completely different contexts,” said Boto before comparing the “greatness” between the clubs.

“Palmeiras does not have Flamengo’s greatness,” says Boto

“Palmeiras, despite its greatness, does not have Flamengo’s greatness. I’ll give you an example: we had to play two matches with a U-17 center-back, João Victor. He didn’t play badly, but he made a mistake and they killed him for it. He’s going to be a top defender, for Europe, in five or six years. But there, they killed him, and it’s going to be very difficult for him to play again with the level of confidence a boy his age needs,” he continued on the podcast.

Palmeiras and Flamengo have dominated Brazilian football in recent years. This season, the clubs had intense clashes in the Brazilian Championship and the Libertadores — both won by Rubro-Negro, with Verdão as runners-up.

Each year, Palmeiras has consolidated itself as a reference in player development and, in recent years, has made significant sales of academy graduates, such as forwards Endrick and Estêvão, as well as center-back Vitor Reis.

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