Flamengo director talks again about Botafogo's expenses: "There is no transparency"

The president Augusto Melo was asked this Friday (20) about Corinthians' interest in striker Gabigol, from Flamengo. The Corinthians director said that the club's focus at the moment is the dispute in the semi-final of the Copa do Brasil, against Rubro-Negro himself, and treated the squad as "closed".

"No, we are very focused on the semi-final. We don't think about that now. We now have a closed squad. No, no, like that... We imagined what we were achieving today, now it's up to the (technical) committee", replied Augusto Melo in a zone. mixed, shortly after the draw for the teams in the semi-final of the Copa do Brasil at the CBF.

Corinthians tried to sign the player at the beginning of the year, but left the deal after feeling a lack of definition between Flamengo and the athlete. The athlete's contract with Rubro-Negro is only valid until the end of the year, and the tendency is for the attacker to change his ways.

With little prestige with coach Tite and hampered by injuries, the numbers of Gabigol in the season are shy: four goals and one assist in 26 games (three as a starter).

Gabigol has already publicly praised the Corinthians fans and was recorded wearing a team shirt in May, which generated great repercussion. Revealed at Santos, the striker also has spells at Internazionale and Benfica, in addition to having already played for the Brazilian national team.

International is considering two possibilities for the delayed clash against Flamengo, referring to the 17th round of the Brasileirão. The game is scheduled for October, and could take place during the FIFA dates (in the first fortnight) or on the dates reserved for the Copa Libertadores semi-final (in the second fortnight), if the Rio team is eliminated in the quarter-finals of the competition.

Last Thursday (19), Flamengo lost the first game to Peñarol 1-0, in Rio de Janeiro, and will decide the classification next Thursday (26), in Montevideo. If the team does not advance in the continental competition, the CBF must reschedule the game with Inter for the 23rd or 30th of October.

On the other hand, if Tite's team manages to reverse the disadvantage against the Uruguayans and advance to the semi-finals, the match with Inter will be rescheduled for sometime between October 8th and 16th, during the break in FIFA dates. However, both teams will not be able to count on players called up for the South American teams.

International has already faced three of the five games delayed in the Brasileirão due to the flood that affected Rio Grande do Sul in May. The matches against Cruzeiro, Juventude and Fortaleza have already been played. The next duel will be against Bragantino, scheduled for next Wednesday (25), with only the clash with Flamengo remaining to be rearranged. Before that, Colorado will face a challenge in the 27th round of the championship, facing São Paulo this Sunday (22), at 6:30 pm, at Morumbi.

After the draw at Nilton Santos, John Textor, owner of SAF do Botafogo, spoke about the problems with Julio Casares, president of São Paulo. He defended that the two have a good relationship and also cited recent statements by Rodolfo Landim, Flamengo's president, who has criticized Alvinegro's high investments.

"I really appreciate that Julio [Casares] is here tonight. He was one of the first to welcome me to Brazil in a very good way. I know you are all reporting a lot of conversations about everything that happened last year, or maybe not happened, about fair play issues. It's important for people to understand that presidents can still be friends, they can be very civil with each other, they can advocate for their public policy views. As a friend, I would say it was great to see you here. We gave each other a big hug because we hadn't seen each other in a long time. In the Libra days, he was one of the people who welcomed me best."

"We are building an organization, a team. we are spending considerably less than what the fair play law says about 75% of our income on sales and player salaries. I think the Landimthe other day said that we needed to have rules because places like Brazil don't have these rules, if an investor comes and takes advantage of the fact that we don't have the rules. But we are in full agreement with all definitions of financial fair play around the world. I was the first to talk about it. I said if we don't do something about the salary cap and invite foreign investment, it will come from sovereign wealth nations with money and oil, then we really have a problem. I'm a lawyer for financial fair play."

Casares has already had fights with the owner of SAF do Glorioso amid accusations of match-fixing for the 2023 Brazilian Championship. The feud, however, remained in the background given the great repercussion of Textor's clashes with Leila Pereira, president of Palmeiras, the board of Tricolor São Paulo took action against the owner of SAF do Botafogo in several legal spheres.

In relation to. Landim, the president of Flamengo, has criticized Botafogo's high investment in several interviews. He argues that Brazil needs financial fair play to stop the money from SAFs.