Rodrigo Nestor: from São Paulo scapegoat to ‘Cotia star’ after sale | OneFootball

The São Paulo fan needs the slightest reason to criticize the club’s terrible current management led by Julio Casares. The year has been awful, will end without a title and maybe even without a spot in the Libertadores. The sales of Cotia’s homegrown talents were disastrous, and the board has been scrambling to try to reduce the obscene debt of nearly R$1 billion.

Amid a crisis that’s not new, Tricolor arranged for many departures from the squad last season, some on loan, such as the case of the homegrown midfielder Rodrigo Nestor, scorer of the heroic goal in the Copa do Brasil finals that ended with an unprecedented title.

Nestor was loaned to Bahia at the start of the year for 1.5 million euros (R$9.4 million), in addition to full salary coverage. The 25-year-old player, according to Salvador (BA) media, has already opened talks to finalize a permanent contract with them. There, he became a key piece in coach Rogério Ceni’s scheme, scoring seven goals and providing six assists in 44 matches.

The clause for Bahia to buy the Cotia revelation is 4.5 million euros (approximately R$28.1 million). But the City Group, which owns their SAF, has already informed the Tricolor directors that they have a plan to use an outstanding debt from São Paulo regarding the purchase of defender Ferraresi to reduce the amount.

Now it’s up to the two clubs to negotiate, but what’s certain is that Nestor will bring in a total of around R$37.5 million to São Paulo’s coffers. For a player who never truly established himself as a starter and was coming off a serious injury that kept him off the pitch for a long time during his best moment, after winning the Copa do Brasil.

Of course, Rodrigo Nestor has permanently marked his name in São Paulo’s history and NO ONE will EVER erase that. The 2023 title has his stamp with that beautiful goal at Morumbi. But I also remember the frequent criticisms from the Tricolor fans about the homegrown talent.

“Nestor doesn’t run, he’s always lazy”, “Nestor is not a midfielder, not a defensive midfielder, not a winger” and “I can’t stand Nestor anymore” were common phrases seen on social media after a less-than-stellar performance from the player.

But, of course, we only value what we have once it’s gone. The grass is always greener on the other side. Today, the Tricolor fans try to turn Nestor into something he never was, a star worth millions and millions of euros. The reality was the sale to Bahia, for almost the same amount that the prospect Matheus Alves was sold to the Russians for this year.

The question is quite simple: would Nestor be an undisputed starter for São Paulo today? No. He might fight for a spot in midfield, starting some matches, but his biggest competitor would be one of the team’s best players this year, Marcos Antônio.

And some critics also say that the club ‘traded Nestor for Ferraresi’, which would be absurd. What kind of absurdity is that? A national team defender, who broke some defensive records for São Paulo this year, young enough to be sold and still with good potential for future profit.

São Paulo ‘spent’ a Nestor to get Ferraresi, which seems quite fair to me, and could still profit much more from a possible sale of the Venezuelan in the coming years.

As a São Paulo fan friend of mine says, ‘the fans need to stop thinking that every player developed in Cotia is a star’. Nestor is far from that, he can, of course, be a very important player in the squad rotation, as he has been with Ceni’s team in Bahia.

But know this, Tricolor fans, attack the board for the thousands of other mistakes they’ve accumulated over the years, but the sale of Rodrigo Nestor to Bahia is not one of them.

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