HIRING OF NICOLÁS DE LA CRUZ MAKES FLAMENGO CROSS THE 1 BILLION REAIS MARK

In recent years, Flamengo has been known for signing top-class players to its squad. Since the beginning of the first term of Rodolfo Landim, current president of the club and who has been in charge since January 2019, investments have not stopped coming. To date, the club has spent more than 1 billion reais on reinforcements.

Nicolás de la Cruz is the team's newest star, having left River Plate (ARG) after Mengão paid 16 million dollars (around 77 million reais), which includes the purchase of player, but also the payment of the termination fine included in his contract. But 'Nico' is almost at the end of the 'Era' Landim, which ends next year. Many came before him.

Rodrigo Caio was the first reinforcement of Rodolfo Landim's management, arriving in December 2018, right before he took over. The defender trained by São Paulo cost around 21.2 million reais to the red and black coffers. He was a real investment well made, having only left the team this year.

The following month, in January 2019, Fla welcomed Bruno Henrique. The star was signed from Snatos for 33 million reais, in addition to a one-year loan for midfielder Jean Lucas. BH is undeniable and a consensus among both the board and the fans as one of the club's biggest names in recent years.

In the same month, another idol, Gabigol, also arrived. Gabriel came to Mais Querido through a loan from Internazionale Milan (ITA). At the beginning of 2020, after his leading role in winning the Brasileirão and Libertadores in the previous season, the club decided to sign him for 78.6 million reais.

As if January 2019 hadn't produced a good enough 'harvest', we have to include another name: Arrascaeta. The Uruguayan star was a huge investment of almost 89.4 million reais. The purchase of the Cruzeiro midfielder became the biggest signing in the history of a Brazilian club... and it was worth it!

Another name - more discreet - who joined the team in January 2019 was Matheuzinho. Londrina's right-back was signed for 1.2 million reais and remains part of the squad.

Pablo Marí should also be mentioned, who, leaving Manchester City (ING) in July 2019, cost Flamengo 16.6 million reais. The defender soon returned to Europe the following year after doing a great job defending Manto Sagrado. Gerson arrived at the same time, costing 49.7 million reais.

In January 2022, Flamengo paid 24 million reais for 50% of Thiago Maia's economic rights to Lille (FRA), but he arrived in the squad, under a loan, in January 2020. Along came Léo Pereira, but from Athletico-PR, costing 34.2 million reais. Santos also left the Paraná team, but in April 2022, for 15.5 million reais.

Pedro cannot be left out of this list, being the third biggest signing in Flamengo's history. The striker cost around 88.2 million reais to leave Fiorentina (ITA).

Fabrício Bruno cost Fla 15 million reais, so that he could leave Red Bull Bragantino without any hassles or a fine, still in February 2022. Pablo was also a value close to this, in March 2022 .  Mais Querido paid 16.6 million reais to Lokomotivo de Moscow (RUS) for the star. Also coming from Russia, Ayrton Lucas was bought for 39.7 million reais from Spartak Moscow (RUS).

In June 2022, Everton Cebolinha arrived from Benfica, after the red and black board paid around 73 million reais. A month later the club paid 15.6 million for Erick Pulgar, who was at Fiorentina (ITA).

This year (2023), the team's first signing was Luiz Araújo, who cost 48 million reais to leave Atlanta United (USA). Allan paid 43 million reais to Atlético-MG.

During this 'Era Landim', Filipe Luís, David Luiz, Vidal, Rossi and Varela are examples of players who did not cost money when signing, as they were free on the market. So, Fla only had to settle their salaries with them.

There are still those who were not hired for such significant amounts: João Lucas (Santos), Rafinha (São Paulo), Pedro Rocha, Gustavo Henrique, Michael (Al-Hilal), Mauricio Isla (Universidad Catolica) , Bruno Viana (Al-Hazem), Kenedy (Chelsea), Andreas Pereira (Fulham), Marinho (Fortaleza).

Landim's mandate has been one of a lot of investment, but also a lot of results. The club has never managed to accumulate so many awards in the space of just five years. There have been 12 achievements for the first team since he took over as president of the club.