Palmeiras managed to bring Lucas Flora, just 10 years old, to their youth academy, who was part of the biggest rival’s youth categories, Corinthians.
The news was released by Claudinei Alves, director of the Timão’s youth categories, during an interview on Marcelinho Carioca’s “Podpé” podcast. Sources confirmed Lucas’ arrival at Verdão.
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Palmeiras “steals” Corinthians’ gem
- The young Lucas Flora gained prominence for his impressive performances in futsal, which quickly went viral on social media;
- Claudinei Alves revealed that Corinthians offered the young player a salary of R$ 3,000, plus housing allowance and costs for school and medical insurance, totaling R$ 10,000 per month;
- To try to hold the young player at Terrão, Timão increased the offer to R$ 7,000 per month, but there was no response from the player’s family.
Meet Lucas Flora, now Palmeiras’ gem
The decision of Lucas and his family to transfer to Palmeiras was influenced by the club’s recent successful history in the youth categories.
On social media, the move was compared to the case of Estêvão, who started at Palmeiras, went to Cruzeiro and returned to Verdão after contractual disagreements.
Regarding Estêvão, he stood out in the Academy, even after having the option to accept more advantageous proposals. Now, he is in negotiations to be transferred to Chelsea, in England.
It’s worth remembering that contracts signed with young people before the age of 14 do not have sports validity, being only formal. Therefore, Lucas Flora can still change clubs without the need to pay a fine until he turns 14 and signs a valid training contract.
Corinthians director comments on negotiations with Flora
“We’ve never seen anything like this. The boy is a Corinthians fan and was very emotional when visiting the club. We did the most we could, but he already had a sponsorship contract with Nike.”
Claudinei Alves also highlighted that Corinthians avoided paying signing bonuses to youth players, preferring not to burden the club with this type of expense.
“Is Lucas Flora a talent? Yes, but we’ve seen other cases like Fabrício Oya that didn’t materialize as we expected,” said Alves, referring to the former promising Corinthians player.
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.
