He really wants it! Júlio Baptista dreams of return as São Paulo's U20 boss | OneFootball

After the unexpected request from coach Allan Barcellos to leave São Paulo’s youth academy, the club is already moving quickly to hire a new name to take charge of its under-20 team in Cotia.

The Tricolor’s main target is a familiar face, Júlio Baptista, who came through the club’s youth ranks and is now a coach gaining his first experience in Europe.

In a recent interview, Júlio said it “would be a dream” to coach the club that launched him into football. “I would be returning home,” said the former player. Watch it again below:

Among the names being considered by the Tricolor board, Júlio Baptista appears as the leading candidate, and he has already held initial talks with São Paulo about taking over the youth team. In February, he, alongside Kaká and Fábio Simplício, visited the CFA Laudo Natel in Cotia for a talk with players from the U-13 to U-20 age groups, where they shared their experiences, journeys, and reflections on development within the club.

Baptista took his first steps as a coach in Spain, where he managed the youth teams and Valladolid B, at a time when Ronaldo Fenômeno was a shareholder in the club.

As a player, Júlio Baptista joined São Paulo while still very young and went through every youth level before making his professional debut in 2000, the year in which he won the Copinha with the under-20 team. He won the Rio-São Paulo tournament in 2001 and the Paulista in the following year, and was sold to Sevilla in 2003.

He also played for Real Madrid, Arsenal, and Roma, building a solid career in Europe, as well as for the Brazilian national team, with whom he played in the 2010 World Cup and won four titles: two Copa Américas and two Confederations Cups.

Barcellos got tired of being misled

The main reason for Allan Barcellos’s departure, as reported by AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR, was promises not kept by the board, especially that he would go through a transition process from the youth setup to the senior team, which did not happen.

Not feeling that the transition process from the youth academy to the senior team was actually happening at São Paulo, he chose to ask to leave and seek a fresh start, and now he may accept the challenge of managing Palmeiras, who are keeping an eye on the coach.

According to sources heard by AMT, Roger Machado’s arrival at Tricolor had no influence on Barcellos’s decision, who truly decided to leave because of the promises not fulfilled by São Paulo over the last two years, more specifically in the last three months.

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