Cuiabá demand R$1m from São Paulo over striker Gustavo Santana | OneFootball

Cuiabá has taken another club to the NDRC (National Dispute Resolution Chamber), this time São Paulo. The Dourado is demanding a debt of R$ 1 million for forward Gustavo Santana, who is on loan to the São Paulo club’s U-20 team.

The debt arose because there was a clause in the contract stating that if the forward played for São Paulo against Cuiabá, either at the professional level or the U-20, the Tricolor would be required to pay a R$ 1 million penalty.

Gustavo Santana played for 6 minutes in June, in a match against Cuiabá. Since then, the Mato Grosso club has demanded the agreed amount, but has not yet received it.

São Paulo has a purchase option for the player: R$ 700,000 for 70%. Cuiabá, however, makes it clear that it will only agree to sell him after the R$ 1 million penalty is paid, if that is the São Paulo club’s wish. Cuiabá has turned to the financial market to balance its accounts this season.

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With revenues down by around 70% due to relegation to Série B of the Brazilian Championship, the Mato Grosso club, owed more than R$ 40 million from the sale of its players to Brazilian teams, has seen traditional clubs in the country such as Corinthians (R$ 18.5 million), Santos (R$ 16.3 million), Atlético-MG (R$ 4.6 million), and Grêmio (R$ 700,000) fail to honor their commitments.

“These delinquencies hinder us. We turned to the financial market to balance our cash flow,” explains Cuiabá president Cristiano Dresch. “Even with a lot of money to receive, we had to take out some credit operations to balance the club’s day-to-day. We see every day that clubs keep signing players while in debt, and they don’t pay. It’s a shame. This financial imbalance that exists in the Brazilian football market,” criticized the executive.

According to Dresch, the CBF needs to ensure that the NDRC is stricter in enforcing existing laws. “I hope it [the CBF] takes the rules it already has off the paper and brings a bit more balance to this scale, because clubs with less money, with less revenue-generating capacity, suffer a lot with cash flow issues, seek the financial market, and end up paying interest,” he continued.

Dresch explains that the main sources of revenue are broadcasting rights, sponsorships, and advertising boards, which help maintain balanced accounts, with the sale of athletes being one of the main levers to extract some profit.

“A club like Cuiabá needs to focus on this because it will hardly be able to compete with other clubs in these recurring revenues, so you need to invest heavily in player development and have players the market wants to buy. And that’s what we’ve been doing,” he explained, noting that all the club’s profits are reinvested in infrastructure improvements.

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