Rigoni in tears as São Paulo confirm fourth squad exit | OneFootball

Rigoni tried. Signed in the middle of the year as one of São Paulo’s few reinforcements, the 32-year-old forward even cried during a private conversation with the board at the beginning of November to stay, when it was discovered that he would not meet the necessary targets for an automatic contract renewal.

But there was no way, this Thursday (11), as AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR found out, the board informed the player that they will not extend his contract, which runs until December.

In other words, Rigoni is now free on the market for 2026. This marks the end of the striker’s second stint, during which he scored just one goal in 12 matches and even disappointed one of his biggest supporters: coach Hernán Crespo, who endorsed his arrival from Mexican football.

To be fair, Rigoni was a victim of São Paulo’s expectations. His signing was made official on the same day the club tried and failed to bring in Marcos Leonardo on loan from Saudi football. Right from the start, the atmosphere was one of frustration and the feeling never stopped being that he was a “consolation prize” for not landing the star revealed by rivals Santos.

With the failures piling up throughout the second half of the year, Rigoni became an easy target for criticism due to his below-average performance. Things got worse when he played as a right-back in the fateful defeat to LDU at Morumbi, which eliminated the club in the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores.

Rigoni is the fourth player from the current squad with a confirmed departure from Tricolor. Before him, goalkeeper Leandro Mathias, midfielder Luiz Gustavo, and fellow forward Dinenno had already been informed by the board that their contracts, expiring at the end of the year, would not be renewed.

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