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Palmeiras was the club that invested the most in Brazil in the youth division in the last five years: a total of R $ 123 million. This is shown in an EY survey of club accounts. The performance of the youngsters in the semifinal against River Plate showed that the strategy was correct.
In his line-up, coach Abel Ferreira chose to form a midfield with only boys from the base, Danilo, Gabriel Menino and Patrick de Paula. He left Rafael Veiga on the bench, who was a starter in most games, to strengthen the blocking of the Argentine midfielder.
It worked. Chico closed both the central sector, when he supported Marcos Rocha in the marking of the side, still appearing in the front for attack shots. In addition, he showed maturity to take advantage of River’s nervousness when launching a spin, provoking with the ball, which later generated an expulsion from Carrascal. Patrick de Paula and Danilo did equally well.
The formation of a base midfield is a novelty for Palmeiras, who got used to forming strong teams with hires since at least the 90s. It was from the restructuring of the club, under the direction of Paulo Nobre and then Maurício Galiotte, who looked back at the base.
The investment made by Palmeiras is slightly higher than that made by São Paulo, with R $ 119 million. Morumbi’s team already has a tradition of training athletes and then trading them with good values. Other clubs that stand out for their investment in the base were Cruzeiro, Grêmio and Flamengo.
In 2019 and 2018, the club invested less, R $ 16 million per year, ranking sixth. Flamengo, Grêmio and Internacional were the ones that spent the most in these departments in the two years.
The EY survey, which is carried out with the balance sheets from 2015 to 2019, indicates that there are some differences in the accounting of resources with the base. Therefore, there may be some divergences in the classification. But the truth is that Palmeiras has a good volume of investment, either in training or in recruiting athletes from the lower categories, an essential element in today’s football.
In this semifinal, the club will be able to take advantage of the work done at its base. Until last year, the income had been more from the safe, as happened with the sale of Gabriel Jesús and other athletes who did not even make their professional debut.
With enough money from Crefisa, and a soccer director, Alexandre Mattos, who spent a lot, there was little room for the club’s trained players. The only one who broke this blockade was Gabriel Jesús in the 2016 Brazilian champion team.
A cost containment in the current 2020 season opened the gap for the current group of athletes to play more on the team. Former coach Vanderlei Luxemburg gave the first chances, but it was coach Abel Ferreira who found the places for the revelations. “We don’t look at the age,” said the Portuguese, in an interview after running over River Plate.
