Vasco race to sign Cuiabano as top-flight rival steps up chase | OneFootball

Vasco is living through decisive and dramatic hours in its pursuit of left-back Cuiabano. Confirmed by president Pedrinho in a recent interview, the negotiation has moved beyond simply “convincing the player” and has become a complex race against time and new competitors. The club’s management needs to close the deal by next Monday, February 2, the date when the English transfer window closes. If the deadline passes, Nottingham Forest will not be able to register a potential replacement or move the player to another European market as easily.

To complicate matters, Vasco is no longer alone. A market move in Belo Horizonte has directly impacted São Januário’s plans: Cruzeiro has agreed to sell its starting left-back, Kaiki, and is now seeking an immediate replacement, with cash on hand and the same target in sight.

To help fans understand the obstacles separating Cuiabano from Vasco, we detail below the three knots that Pedrinho needs to untie this weekend.

+ Understand Vasco’s negotiation for Cuiabano: values, structure, and hurdles of the deal

The “Marinakis Factor”: Forest’s internal preference

Nottingham Forest is owned by Greek magnate Evangelos Marinakis, who also owns Olympiacos (Greece) and Rio Ave (Portugal). The English club does not count on Cuiabano for the rest of the season, but the group’s logic is to prioritize loans to its “sister clubs,” keeping the asset under close control.

For Vasco, this means the proposal needs to be financially much more attractive than a simple internal loan. They must convince Forest that increasing the player’s value in Brazilian football (where he has already stood out) is more advantageous than keeping him in Greece or Portugal.

Cuiabano belongs to a club owned by Greek Evangelos Marinakis – Photo: Nottingham Forest Press Release

Cruzeiro sells Kaiki and enters the race with cash in hand

The biggest threat, however, is domestic. Cruzeiro finalized this Thursday the sale of left-back Kaiki to Como, of Italy. The deal is worth around €10 million fixed plus €2 million in bonuses (about R$75 million in total).

With full coffers and a vacancy at left-back, Raposa has made Cuiabano its top priority. Unlike Vasco, which is trying to arrange a loan with a mandatory purchase clause to avoid immediate cash flow issues, Cruzeiro has the liquidity to make a definitive purchase offer or pay a more aggressive loan fee, which is more appealing to the English club.

The clock is ticking: final deadline is 02/02

Finally, there is the tyranny of the calendar. With the English window closing on 02/02, there are only a few business days left for document exchanges and medicals. Any bureaucratic hiccup could derail the deal. Vasco needs to be quick and precise: either they present an irresistible proposal now, or they risk seeing their main target end up in Minas Gerais or at one of Forest’s satellite clubs.

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