Although, for practically his entire career, Képler Laveran Lima Ferreira, known in football as Pepe, has been linked to Portugal, many forget that this legendary defender was born Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil, on January 26, 1983.
This 41-year-old central defender trained at Corinthians Alagoano and in 2001 he signed for Marítimo de Portugal, thus beginning his relationship with the European country for which he would later become nationalized.
After a long career in elite football, Pepe is expected to leave Porto as a free agent this summer and a Portuguese media outlet claims that a possible return to his Brazilian roots is not completely ruled out.
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Al-Nassr is the favorite to sign Pepe, who is also wanted in Brazil
Pepe will finish his contract with Porto on June 30 of this year and various clubs from around the world would already be in contact with the brave central defender to offer him a new contract so that he can continue with his illustrious career in their respective projects, but one Of them he would have the lead according to the Portuguese media A Bola.
Central decidiu jogar mais uma época e já terá proposta do Al Nassr
Leia aqui: https://t.co/EwfpMJD8Yd#mercado #pepe #fcporto
— A BOLA (@abolapt) June 5, 2024
This source affirms that Pepe would already have a proposal from the Saudi Al-Nassr in his hands that would allow him to meet with former teammates of the stature of Cristiano Ronaldo or Alex Telles. However, the Saudis would not be the only ones interested in tempting Pepe with a sporting project, since it is also mentioned that clubs from Brazil, Turkey and Qatar are following in his footsteps.
It has not yet been mentioned which Brazilian clubs would presumably have a specific interest in signing Pepe, but everything seems to indicate that the Saudi offer will be tempting enough to rule out a possible return of Pepe to his South American roots.
However, in the transfer market nothing is written and only the player’s will to rediscover Brazilian football could be the driving force that leads him to reject the large Saudi offer.
Remembering Zagallo
Sambafoot Series launched a new documentary about the football legend Zagallo. Known as ‘Velho Lobo‘ and as superstitious as it gets, Zagallo helped shape what Brazilian football is nowadays — as a player and as a coach.
Binge the full series, available on Sambafoot’s Youtube channel.
