Santos president says Gabriel Barbosa wanted to stay after 2018 loan | OneFootball

The president of Santos has claimed that Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa had wanted to stay with the club after spending the 2018 season at the Estádio Urbano Caldeira.

Barbosa was loaned to Santos, where he had begun his career, from parent club Inter Milan after a disappointing stint at Benfica.

The striker regained his mojo at his boyhood club, but subsequently went on loan to Flamengo last year where his goalscoring exploits helped the Rubro-Negro win the Campeonato Carioca, the Brasileirão and the Copa Libertadores.

However, Santos president José Carlos Peres says the São Paulo native would have been happy to remain in his home city at time.

“We caught Gabriel Barbosa at the bottom of the well, after just playing on Inter’s bench, he was on loan to Benfica,” Gazeta Esportiva reported Peres saying.

“He had already devalued, and the player had morale under his heels.

“We put it on and made it feel like home. He played a lot and scored many goals.

“He wanted to stay here: I called Inter and offered Lucas Veríssimo another R$4 million, but they preferred to give Flamengo R$20 million in installments. A pity,” Peres said.

Barbosa scored 43 goals last term, leading Flamengo to pay Inter in the region of €20m in January to sign him on a permanent deal.