New thread for the upcoming season. Gabibol ended his charade on new years day announcing he is going to play at Cruzeiro. They also signed up Dudu earlier in December. I am curious to see how it goes for Dudu. Palmeiras made Paulinho signing official. Atlético get Menino and Patrick plus money. Atlético are apparently hard up for cash. At Botafogo it looks like Luiz Henrique is on his way out to some club in England. Artur Jorge is also out. So the team will have to be rebuilt.
Cruzeiro definitely making the big waves early. They are also making offers for defenders Fabricio Bruno and Valentin Gomez (though if I understand correctly they'll just get one) and they already picked up Fagner. I was hoping Jardine would take the Botafogo job but it looks like he has rejected the offer and will stay at America (Mex). I think Brazilians dismiss him too quickly for his club career in Brazil. He has and Olympic gold medal and now three titles in Mexico. Maybe he knows better than to come back to Brazil and get burned quickly instead of being given time to work. Flamengo have received a number of offers for Wesley, but it looks like we are going to hold on to him at least until the Mundial.
Looks like Flamengo will bring in Juninho, currently at Qarabag. He scored a few Europa League goals last season, against Leverkusen. He previously played at a couple of Portuguese clubs and left Brazil as an unknown after some loans from Athletico PR. Sevilla had practically wrapped up the deal when Flamengo came in and offered a higher salary. He'll replace Gabigol and shore up the attack while Pedro and Cebolinha recover. He's the first major signing for Flamengo's new football director, José Boto, who is trying to mold the department into a more European one.