The most embarrassing situation. The debutant of “Zenith” has problems in the club for moving to Russia
Anatoly Romanov July 13, 2023, 16:15 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The coach removed the 17-year-old star from the squad. There was also an injury.
Two weeks ago, Zenit announced the transfer of Brazilian prodigy Pedro Henrique. The Petersburg club paid Corinthians 9 million euros for 50% of the rights to the 17-year-old winger. According to FIFA rules, a young rookie will be able to join the Russian champions no earlier than February 2024, when he comes of age. While he will follow his development in the São Paulo club. At Zenit they hope they will receive a future star in the person of Pedro.
Guillermo Oliveira
Zenith coach:
“There is a lot of talk about him in Brazil. And even for some time they wrote that Pedro was stronger than his teammate Andrik, who was acquired by Real Madrid … his strengths are outweighing, even at good speed. He is quite a technical player and scores a lot.”
At Corinthians, Pedro was treated like a diamond. Obviously, therefore, the leaders of Timau wanted to keep 30% of the footballer’s rights, despite the fact that the transfer of the winger to Zenit solved the financial problems of the São Paulo club. The remaining 20% belongs to Pedro’s family and representatives. The president of Corinthians, Duilio Monteiro, was even criticized for his hasty farewell to a promising player who, at the age of 16, scored for the Brazil U20 team (2+2 in the South American Championship in January-February 2023). Let’s say you could wait until the price of Pedro continues to rise. But Monteiro cut it, it’s a good deal.
Effectively beneficial. If we assume that Zenit will resell Pedro in a few years, for example, for 40 million euros, then the São Paulo club will earn a total of 21 million euros from the winger (adding the 9 million euros already received and the 12 million euro). million, which will mean 30% of the future transfer). This is more than the income of the Russian champions themselves. In this case, Zenit will earn only 11 million euros (of the 20 million euros, which will be 50% of the resale, we subtract the 9 million euros already spent). Meanwhile, Corinthians have never sold their players for a lot of money: according to Transfermarkt, the most expensive outgoing transfer in the history of the Sao Paulo club – Paulinho to Tottenham for 19.5 million euros.
However, after closing the deal with Zenit, the attitude towards Pedro at Corinthians began to change. And now he raises questions under what conditions the champions of Russia will receive the only one from Brazil.
The 17-year-old talent was admitted to the Corinthians base shortly after the U-20 South American Championship, in which the future Zenit player scored a goal in the “golden” match with Uruguay. Pedro debuted in a match of the Sao Paulo state championship (Liga Paulista) with Santo André. And when the main tournaments of the 2023 season started, the winger also began to get playing time there: he entered the field in five matches in the Brazilian championship, three in the Copa Libertadores and one in the Brazilian Cup. He even hits the base twice! In general terms, Corinthians got involved in the evolution of his pupil and showed it to Zenit.
However, in the first three games after Pedro’s transfer to Zenit, the full-back suddenly left Timau. In July, he was not included in the candidacy neither in the Brazilian championship matches with RB Bragantino and Atlético Mineiro, nor in the country’s Cup match with América. Where did the diamond of the Sao Paulo club end up?
The Meu Timao website, specialized in Corinthians, answered this question the other day. It turns out that the team’s head coach, Wanderlei Lushenburg, is ignoring Pedro just because the winger is leaving for Zenit in February 2024. This is a club insider.
Peter in Corinthians
Photo: ZumaTASS
Pedro is not the first “victim” of Lushenburg. Du Queiroz, whom the St. Petersburg club signed in the winter transfer window and left at Corinthians until the summer of 2023, was in a similar situation before signing for Zenit. If last season the central midfielder was a solid player in the base of the Brazilian team, after the appointment of Lushenburg as Timau’s head coach, Du Queiroz withdrew from the squad. Wanderlei has said bluntly in an interview that he has no reason to work with an outgoing player.
In the case of Du Queiroz, it was not so scary for Zenit, since two months later the midfielder was already training and training as part of the St. Petersburg team. But the situation with Pedro should make the coaching staff and the blue and white leadership more tense. Before his arrival in St. Petersburg, at least seven months.
Now the 17-year-old winger needs to gain experience in adult soccer at a professional level. Andrik himself after the transfer to Real Madrid (the Palmeiras star will be able to move to Madrid in the summer of 2024) has a stable practice, and they kept putting him in, despite the striker’s long dry streak.
Obviously, for the future, “Zenith” in such a situation, it is necessary to prescribe in the contract the responsibility of the selling club. In the form of bonuses or something else. The second part must have a financial motivation to release a football player on the field, which the buyer will need in good shape. But in general, the same Corinthians should not forget that 30% of Peter’s rights remain his. Perhaps Lushenburg remembered this. On the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, Pedro finally got his minutes in the Copa Sudamericana match against Universitario.
Why Zenit signs Mario Fernández
Do you not understand why Zenit needs Mario Fernández? We count five reasons
At the end of June, Corinthians flew out of the Copa Libertadores (similar to the Champions League) and went to the Copa Sudamericana (similar to the Europa League). A tight schedule forces Lushenburg to think about the rotation of the squad, and in this tournament he opted for Pedro. The winger was included in the first playoff game against the Peruvians. However, here too everything ended with bad news for Zenith. The future debutant for the blue and whites played only 40 minutes and was injured after receiving a blow to the back – Pedro was taken off the field on a stretcher.
