Pedro Lourenço, owner of SAF do Cruzeiro, dreams of strong reinforcements like Coutinho and Gabigol

Pedro Lourenço, new owner of Sociedade Anônima de Futebol (SAF) of Cruzeiro, commented during a recent interview, at Toca da Raposa, about his aspirations, challenges and what he expects from the next transfer window, which will take place in June, in the middle of the Brazilian championship.

Coutinho's dream

Lourenço, who recently acquired ownership of Cruzeiro's SAF, commented in a recent interview his desires for reinforcements for the team with the celestial shirt. The SAF owner admitted that one of his biggest dreams, in the form of reinforcement, for Cruzeiro would be to have the amateur, Philippe Coutinho, who has a contract with the English club, Aston Villa until June 2026, but is on loan to Al- Duhail, from Qatar, until the end of 2024.

“A big dream is Coutinho, for example. We have a big dream to bring. A type of player like that”, were the words of Pedro Lourenço. However, Pedro Lourenço's wishes have a major obstacle, which the owner recognizes, as he says that this dream will go through difficult negotiations, mainly on two major points: values ​​and competition.

Rio de Janeiro's Vasco da Gama, the club that revealed the midfielder, is one of those problems. According to the news, Coutinho himself shows interest in returning to Vasco and the club claims to be very optimistic about the progress in talks about this return.

The issue of values, that is, the financial aspect of the player's transaction, is even more worrying. And it is also confusing, as it is not known whether, after the midfielder's loan to the Qatari team ends, he will be definitively released or not, by the club that holds his pass, Aston Villa.

Furthermore, the athlete still needs to accept the proposal and Cruzeiro will need to deal with values ​​considered “high level” for Brazil and outside the standards of the Minas Gerais team itself. Even so, the new owner of SAF declared: “Coutinho is truly a dream, and if we have to bring him, we will spare no effort”, being emphatic in his statement.

Embed from Getty Images

_{Philippe Coutinho, midfielder for the Brazilian national team, is one of the dreams of Cruzeiro's new SAF owner, Pedro Lourenço (Photo: reproduction/Kaz/Getty Images Embed)}

Someone like Gabigol

Following the same logic, but with a less than optimistic connotation, Lourenço declared his dream for someone like Gabigol, current striker for Flamengo.

“It would be a dream to have Gabigol, but Flamengo wouldn't release him like that, we don't know the condition. We never considered that. But we dream big, we have to make a team that matches the fans”, commented the owner of SAF do Cruzeiro. The team is in a delicate situation when it comes to searching for a reliable center forward to deal with the club's needs in the sector.

Flamengo's former number 10 – Gabigol lost the right to wear the shirt after controversy – and could be a viable option, however. The striker's contract with Flamengo will end at the end of this year (2024). However, to date, there has been no movement from the Celeste team in this direction, neither towards the player himself, nor towards the Rio club, which would need to accept and allow immediate release.

Featured photo: Player Ronaldo on the left and Pedro Lourenço, current owner of SAF do Cruzeiro, on the right (Reproduction: Instagram/ @cruzeiro)