Spring cleaning

Without much noise and rather efficiently, Palmeiras are promoting a (European) spring cleaning (it’s actually autumn over here). Players have been leaving in a steady stream: Gerley and Chico are now defending first division teams Bahia and Coritiba respectively, while Tinga (Ceará), Fernandão (Atlético Paranaense) and recently also Pedro Carmona (São Caetano) will have to adapt to the second echelon of Brazilian football. Ricardo Bueno is flying back to Atlético Mineiro as soon as his contract expires this coming Monday. And Leandro Amaro is possibly leaving for Portuguesa (although he firmly denies it himself and expresses his wish to remain at the Verdão).
.
.
None of these players will be particularly missed, although I’ve personally never held anything against Chico and Fernandão. Nevertheless, one cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that these player are going to second-, even third-rated teams; an indication of (lack of) quality if any. And as Daniel Grandesso of the Maluco pelo Palmeiras blog correctly points out: five out of seven players mentioned above came with Scolari’s approval. One – Carmona – was even offered an interesting salary raise at the beginning of the year as part of the (successful) attempt to NOT see him leave for Japan. Money well spent?

Cleaning out leaves room for new faces. Felipe, an attacking midfielder on loan to Mogi Mirim, is returning home in a few days. The other week I wrote about the arrivals of Left-winger Fernandinho and offensive midfielder Mazinho (the latter made his debut against Paraná). And Scolari has provided Sampaio and the directors with a wish list that certainly contains both defensive midfielders and attackers. Two questions: does Scolari still have the eye? Do Palmeiras have deep enough pockets to bring in some quality?

Hopefully, some of the more promising kids from the youth academy well get their shot at stardom. Today it was announced that Bruno Dybal has signed a new, three-year contract with Palmeiras; excellent news, as the 17-year-old midfielder has been arousing the interest of other clubs.

And there it is. Let’s wait and see. As usual, there’s not much else one can do. Which is actually good; I’d hate to see another MOP campaign.

AVANTI PALESTRA!

— ooo —

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the Mídia Palestrina app for android (iOS version expected soon) was downloaded and installed on more than 1.500 smartphones and tablets within 36 hours of launching. And not only that: the app was today featured on Google Play’s Brazilian homepage – isn’t that spectacular?!