BELLUZZO HIGHLIGHTS TEAMWORK AND COMMENTS ON THE RETURN OF THE WIZARD
Fábio Finelli
27/07/2010, 13:57
During the press conference that lasted for almost 50 minutes, Belluzzo named the people involved in the negotiation and praised the leaders of Al Ain, Valdivia’s former club. “We work as a team. In addition to the directors (of Palmeiras), Marcelo Solarino (director of international relations) and Rodolfo Forte (businessman taking part in the negotiation) were brilliant. In Palmeiras, everyone work together for the best of the team. That’s why things went the right way.
Belluzzio denied the Club had been dragging out on the negotiation process and explained the reasons for having waited until the right moment to announce the return of the Wizard. “People say it was a novela, but I don’t see it that way. It took the time necessary for a deal of this magnitude. The supporter sometimes acts like a consumer, like as if a player of Kleber’s or Valdivia’s calibre was something you would find in the Supermarket. You arrive there and buy what you want and when you want. It doesn’t work like that”, he said, and then finished:
“During this period, we worked patiently in order to find partners that would enter into this deal with us. The marketing department played a fundamental role in this, gathering investors and substantially raising the Club’s revenues. That’s how we were able to bring these athletes to us.”
In order to have Valdivia back, Palmeiras bought 100% of the player’s rights, who signed a 5-year contract. “Al Ain didn’t want to let him go, but the negotiation ended up lucrative for all parties. I would like to highlight the transparency of the leaders of the Arab club and say that our relationship doesn’t end here. This relationship goes beyond the Valdivia deal”, he revealed, hinting at a possible future exchange of athletes between the two clubs.
