Duck Season: Alexandre Pato And Europe
Alexandre Pato has experienced a meteoric rise from anonymity to becoming one of Brazil’s most sought-after would-be exports in less than a year. The player has stirred up such interest that some of the biggest clubs in Europe have ‘The Duck’ firmly in their crosshairs for the coming season. With the big guns aiming high his price has also shot up and AC Milan have even sent an emissary to Brazil with the complicated mission of bringing back the prized striker...
Ex-Seleção and AC Milan midfielder-turned-exec Leonardo has landed in Brazil today, Monday 30th July 2007, sent by the Rossoneri giants to nab 17 year-old Alexandre Pato from current club Internacional. The memory of the superb piece of business that was the signing of (then) 21 year-old Kaká for US$8.5 million, a coup that caused Silvio Berlusconi to laugh out loud and describe the fee paid as peanuts, is still fresh...and Milan want more of the same.
This time around it appears that the Milanese giants will have to shell out a lot more than just peanuts to land the next Brazilian hotshot. The scene is set for tough negotiations – and Leonardo has been dispatched to his homeland to spearhead the Duck hunt. After landing he was immediately intercepted by a reporter sent by Porto Alegre paper Zero Hora, although Leonardo wasn’t about to spill the beans about The Duck just yet.
“Pato is a great player and all great players interest [AC] Milan. Right now I can’t say more than that”, he answered in response to a slew of questions as to the reason for his visit to Brazil, although he’s yet to clarify if he’ll be popping down to the chilly capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in person. Although he has business interests in Brazil, his arrival is seen as being prompted by his club’s interest in Pato.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti has reportedly asked for the young gun to add to his already-impressive arsenal, although club VP Adriano ‘Uncle Fester’ Galliani has also been quoted as saying that he has no intention of paying an asking price that has rocketed since Pato erupted onto the Internacional – and international – scene since his professional debut against Palmeiras at the end of 2006.
Having been kept under wraps by his club – all too aware that the contract he had was laughably accessible for even other Brazilian clubs to snap the prospect up – Pato was given a salary boost from €1000 per month to €10,000 per month and then wheeled out to shine against the Paulistas, starting off his professional tally with a cool-headed goal. This waiting game had allowed his contractual release clause to be raised to an amount that narrowed down potential snapper-uppers to the elite of European football.
This quantity varies wildly according to the source quoted, although according to the professional contract signed in November 2006 the magic number is R$ 38,000,000 (Brazilian Reais), which translates into roughly €15,000,000 (US$20,000,000 or £10,000,000). Not bad considering some of the sums that have been shelled out so far this summer; half that paid by Manchester United for Anderson or Real Madrid for Pepe to give just two examples.
Nevertheless, the fact is that Alexandre Pato lacks what the others already have: European experience. This makes his signing more of a gamble, although it doesn’t seem to have deterred either foreign interest in the Brazil-based youngster – or a hike in his price from domestic agent Gilmar Veloz. Pato’s rep knows that he has a potential goldmine on his books and he’s not about to shake hands for a bargain.
Veloz was fast to state that his client will only be interested in a move out of his Beira-Rio home if a suitably succulent offer can be used to baste The Duck. “Inter[nacional] and I have agreed that Pato will only leave if a US$ 30 million offer arrives” he told a gaggle of insistent Brazilian reporters on Sunday. “All decisions will be made in conjunction with the club and the last word will be said by Pato – who isn’t obliged to leave if he doesn’t want to”, stressed the rep.
It does seem that if anybody wants to bag The Duck they’ll have to do a lot better than offer the rock bottom price. “Pato’s contract rescission clause is set at 14.5 million Euros, that’s true”, affirmed Internacional President Vitorio Piffero – but with a crack of the whip. “All of that money is for the club – not a bit of it is destined for the player”, he added, underlining the need for a sweeter sauce to be ladled onto Pato.
The player himself is flattered by the interest but keeping his feet on the ground. “AC Milan are coming to town? Great, but that’s between my agent, my club and them. I’m not going to be seeing anybody”, he stressed, putting the ball firmly in the court of the businessmen to sort out a proposal that he can then study. Veloz himself has set the bar high enough to cause Galliani to cough into his Risotto.
Speaking to Porto Alegre radio station Rádio Gaúcha, Vitorio Piffero explained that the real cost of the deal will be around the €22 million mark. “The figure of R$ 38,000,000 [€15,000,000 / US$20,000,000 / £10,000,000] is correct, as has been mentioned since the end of last year, but that’s not the whole story. That is just the quantity that goes to the Colorado [Internacional’s nickname]. I assume that Veloz has mentioned the figure of US$ 30 million to cover commissions and the player’s cut.”
Veloz himself is refusing to stand on a particular figure, but hasn’t denied the quotes nor the amounts quoted, preferring to stress that it will be the player’s choice. “He’s only 17 years old and he needs to be cared for so myself and his father will advise him on the financial and professional side, although the final choice of where – and if – to go is up to him”, he explained to Globoesporte.
His father, Geraldo Rodrigues, gave the latest to Zero Hora. “There’s no official proposal from anybody yet for Pato. When the offers arrive then he’ll be the one to choose, but the fact is that he won’t be going all that way just to sit on a bench. Any offer must be made on the basis that he’ll be moving clubs but will continue to play.” This hasn’t been lost on Leonardo, the Milan man allegedly ready to show just what the Italian giants can offer the young gun according to last Friday’s Corriere dello Sport.
Leonardo saw Pato in action first hand in Canada and has given the green light for the signing, although he’s apparently under strict instructions to use charm and persuasion rather than a huge wad of high-denomination notes to make the difference to his countryman. This may not be quite enough as the striker is also set to receive an improved offer from his current club as well.
“When he’s 18 [which will be on the 2nd of September 2009] we want to make an adjustment to his contract [the current one runs out at the end of 2009]. Although it’s still early we have communicated our intentions to his agent and would like to offer a five-year deal that will reflect his talent”, club President Piffero outlined to Rádio Gaúcha.
This evidently would pale into insignificance with what a club like AC Milan could offer – if they really decide to go for broke – but does allow the player the luxury of choice. If he really believes in his own talent and is prepared to wait a little he could find himself covered in far more lucrative offers in the near future rather than risking a lot on a very early, very risky transatlantic move.
After all, it’s not just AC Milan who are coveting the forward, Chelsea and Real Madrid are also awaiting developments. The English side can count on the riches – and South American connections – of Roman Abramovich, who can easily afford to seal the deal and leave The Duck to mature in his native Brazil for a couple of seasons...or farm him out to another European side who can offer more minutes every week as they have done with other players.
A move to The Blues was trumpeted far and wide by cerebrally-challenged tabloid News Of The World in late June 2007, Gilmar Veloz apparently telling the scandal sheet that “A deal is almost done”. Since then, however, the deal has not been done and his agent has made no more mention of the supposedly imminent signing of an £18 million deal that looks to have gone off the boil and onto the back burner.
The Merengues plucked Gonzalo Higuaín from River Plate last year, paying €13 million to the Argentinean club, but are reportedly thinking of The Duck to feather their squad as from the 2008-9 season. Higuaín has already seen the danger and asked for more minutes to prove his worth, but the supposed Spanish offer may be more than just a way to rev up the Franco-Argentine forward.
If that wasn’t enough, the other great Milanese outfit, Internazionale, have been warming to Pato more and more as the last hot young Brazilian they brought in (Adriano Leite Ribeiro, snapped up from Flamengo in 2001) has cooled down as of late and may be on the way out of the Nerazzurri door. Alexandre Pato would be a shoe-in in that case – and less likely to succumb to cigarettes and Fubangas (the Brazilian Portuguese slang for the differently attractive women he’s been snapped with) than a lothario-like Adriano who apparently can't stop living it large.
