Having sold Malcolm to Al-Hilal for a record amount of €60 million for the RPL, Zenit simultaneously solves the problem of Wendel’s future. As the “Championship” became known, the St. Petersburg club in the course of negotiations on the first offered the Riyadh club, and the second. However, Al-Hilal rejected the midfielder’s candidacy. However, according to journalist Fabio Aleixo, Wendel has two more options in Saudi Arabia. But Flamengo is not abandoning attempts to sign the 25-year-old: the Brazilian himself wants to return to his homeland.
Flamengo, of course, doesn’t have as much money as the Arabs. According to Brazilian publication Globo Esporte, the Rio de Janeiro club agreed a personal contract with Wendel, but offered Zenit just 13 million euros for 100% of the player’s rights. It doesn’t take an expert to guess how St. Petersburg will respond to this offer, given that the Russian champions bought the midfielder from Sporting Lisbon for 20.3 million euros. Who Zenit will target.
Whom Zenit proposed to include in the agreement on Claudinho:
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Informants reported: Flamengo offered Zenit striker Gabriel Barbosa, nicknamed Gabigol. The king of South America, who failed miserably in Europe – Inter and Benfica. According to Metaratings, Blue-White-Blue head coach Sergey Semak is not satisfied with Gabigol’s candidacy. Instead, Zenit can swap Wendel for centre forward Pedro Abreu. According to the source, Fla doesn’t really want to part with his top scorer, however, negotiations continue.
Pedro Abreu, 26, should not be confused with Corinthians’ 17-year-old winger Pedro Enrique, whom Zenit has already bought and is expecting in February 2024. He is a classic center forward, a mature and experienced player who participated in the 2022 World Cup as part of the Brazilian national team. Quite tall, physically strong. Pedro did not enter the base of the Selecao in the World Cup, he was the replacement of Richarlison and Gabriel Jesus. In the last round of the group stage, he came on as a substitute in the match with Cameroon (0: 1) half an hour before the final whistle. In the quarterfinals against Croatia, which the Brazilians lost on penalties, Pedro appeared on the field at the end of the second half and played about 40 minutes. In the series of 11 meters, unlike Rodrygo and Marquinhos, he made his shot from the “point”.
Pedro made his debut on the Brazilian national team in November 2020, but has been consistently called up to the national team only since last fall. So far, the striker has six games for the Selecao and only one goal in a friendly match with Tunisia. At Flamengo, his role is, of course, more significant.
Zico
former CSKA coach:
“In my opinion, there is no better striker in Brazil than Pedro. Just don’t! He can play without the ball, but he has the patience to wait for his opportunities. Even if he receives the ball three times in a match, he will score two goals and give someone an assist. His vision of the game and the action in the penalty area is fantastic!”
In the 2023 season, in the main tournaments, the championship, the Copa and the Supercopa of Brazil, as well as the Copa Libertadores (analogous to the Champions League), Pedro scored 13 goals and made one assist in 23 matches. He scored four more goals in two Club World Cup matches against Egypt’s Al-Ahly and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad. In general, the striker copes with his task, although the performance in Serie A could have been higher: only four goals, while a year earlier it was 11.
At first glance, Pedro may seem like some kind of clumsy striker. He doesn’t have high speed, he doesn’t have the technique of the best Brazilian players, and trying to beat one-on-one sometimes suggests that the guy is overestimating himself. But Peter is a typical “nine.” The ability to hold on to the ball and hold it, movement without the ball and reaction to episodes, martial arts and head play are strong qualities of a potential newcomer to Zenit. He has a “feeling of being naked.” He can play outside the area, he likes to play with his heels.
Peter, like any otherRasileño, dreamed of playing in Europe. So far, he has had a chance. The striker promoted his career as part of Fluminense (Fla’s main rival!) and in September 2019 was sold to Fiorentina for €11 million. The Brazilian took part in only four Serie A matches, and each time came on as a substitute and played a total of just one hour. Coach Vincenzo Montella (the one who pinned Artem Dzyuba in Turkey) trusted Kevin-Prince Boateng and Dusan Vlahovic, but did not believe in Pedro. Perhaps the striker could not open in Italy because of the consequences of the injury. From August 2018 to March 2019, he was recovering from a cruciate ligament rupture in his knee, then healed his hip injury for another month.
If Zenit sign the Brazilian from Flamengo, then perhaps Semak will be forced to simplify the team’s play, as was the case with a pair of strikers Dzyuba and Azmoun. At the disposal of the coach there will be a set of forwards, whose strength is the game in the penalty area. First of all, Peter and Sergeev. Although Cassierra is beginning to resemble himself since the Sochi period. At the same time, Zenit will lose fast, technical and creative midfielders (Malcolm, Wendel), who loved to combine and tie the game of the champions of Russia.
