Breaking: São Paulo eye ex-Inter midfielder and Botafogo's Angolan CB | OneFootball

With Rafinha now unofficially acting as the strongman of the football department, São Paulo decided to hit the transfer market this Monday (29).

As AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR has learned, the Morumbi club made formal inquiries about two players in positions considered lacking in the squad: center-back Bastos and defensive midfielder Rodrigo Dourado.

At 32, Dourado came through at Internacional and has been playing in Mexican football since 2022. At the start of this year, at the request of André Jardine, the former São Paulo manager, he was signed by América, the biggest club in that North American country.

The deal appears difficult. Despite the midfielder’s desire to return to Brazil, he cost 2.5 million euros (around R$ 14.8 million), certainly an amount América will try to recover at least in part.

São Paulo’s board got in touch to assess the conditions of a deal and is initially working with the possibility of a loan with an option to buy.

Tricolor’s priority for the position was Newton of Botafogo, but negotiations with the Rio club have stalled, and the decision has been made to look for alternatives. As AMT revealed, Thiago Maia is also being monitored.

OPTION FOR THE DEFENSE

Speaking of Botafogo, another player from the team has entered São Paulo’s radar: Angolan defender Bastos.

At 35, he is under contract with Botafogo only until the end of the year and has already signaled that he does not want to extend the deal.

At the moment, according to what has been learned, his name is being evaluated internally. The idea would be to sign a pre-contract and negotiate an early release with the Rio club.

A position considered a priority to strengthen, the defense was boosted by the return of Arboleda, who was reinstated after a disciplinary issue. Even so, coach Dorival Júnior is asking for the signing of another player for the sector.

The Morumbi club negotiated with Arthur Chaves, who plays in German football, but Hoffenheim has rejected all loan offers made so far by the Brazilians.

The same situation applies to Portuguese defender Domingos Duarte. After the player rejected the contract offer made to him (he becomes a free agent starting this week), São Paulo is now facing competition from Olympiacos of Greece, which has driven up the figures and is likely to make Tricolor walk away from the negotiations once again.

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