Near the end of his term at Palmeiras, Maurício Galiotte spoke about a proposal from China that arrived at Dudu in 2018 and how he got the name of coach Abel Ferreira to take charge of the team.
Wanted twice by Chinese clubs in the year of the tenth Brazilian championship, the current number 43 of Palmeiras left the club just a few years later. At the time, interest came from Shandong Luneng, but earlier this year it had already been probed by Changchun Yatai.
“It was in July 2018. Dudu came to me and said he had a very interesting proposal from China. I told him: ‘Dudu, today Palmeiras needs you. Palmeiras needs you to help us win the title. I’m going to ask, right now, to give up the proposal. Stay with us, and when you have another opportunity, you have my word that I’ll think of some way to be able to serve you’”, said Maurício to TV Palmeiras.
Dudu left Palmeiras in July last year. Al Duhail paid €7m (£42.1m at the time) to have him on loan for a season.
The club from Qatar had the option of having the athlete definitively for six million euros (about R$ 39 million), but he did not exercise the right and the idol from Palmeira returned to Brazil in May this year.
Features that fit
Mainly after the chaotic moment caused by the pandemic, Palmeiras adapted a new way of looking at the market. On October 14, 2020, the club fired coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who raised several boys to professional status and made history in the Campeonato Paulista against Corinthians.
In the current season, 22 athletes trained in the youth category played in the first team, the club’s record in the 21st century. To continue this work, Galiotte said he wanted a “modern profile” and that he would be willing to take on new challenges.
“The work at the base is a great pride for our management. Being champion with the base boys is very pleasurable. We can look back and say we got it right”, he declared.
“Our idea was to seek a modern profile and an identification with the base [depois da saída de Luxemburgo]. And the name of Abel came up. We arrived at his name with the premise of seeing football in a different way, and that he would also work with youth categories”, he added.
“Abel is a young coach, a strategist, who was looking for new challenges and wanted to grow. It was a hit by us, palmeirenses”, concluded the leader.
Abel Ferreira was announced at Palmeiras 16 days after Vanderlei left. On the 30th, the Portuguese commander arrived in Brazil to be ahead of the alviverde team and was introduced to the team on the 4th of November 2020.
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