Saul Niguez will be a new Flamengo player. The Atletico Madrid midfielder broke off his almost-closed deal with Turkish club Trabzonspor to play in Brazil with his former teammate Filipe Luis as coach.
Atletico Madrid gave Saul Niguez the freedom to decide his future after negotiating the termination of the contract that still tied them until 2026. It seemed that the 30-year-old midfielder’s career would continue in Turkey, but the course has taken a complete turn in the last few days.
Everything was all set for him to sign for Trabzonspor, but the player himself backed out. “It didn’t work out for personal reasons. I hope our paths cross again one day,” Saul himself wrote on social media on Monday. And just two days later he has appeared in Rio de Janeiro.
The Elche native’s visit to Brazil is due to his imminent signing for Flamengo. Saul arrived at the airport of the bustling city accompanied by his agents and members of his new club, and took the opportunity to pose with a ‘Mengao’ scarf that read “the biggest in the world”.
There, the ex-Atletico Madrid player will be placed under the orders of Filipe Luis, who was his team-mate at Atletico Madrid between 2012 and 2019, with the Brazilian full-back spending a year at Chelsea (2014-15). Now, the former Brazilian defender is one of the most promising coaches on the planet.
Although the agreement to leave Atleti was total, ‘AS’ reports that the club was waiting to know his future before signing his letter of release. Neither Saul nor Rodrigo De Paul have been called up to Los Angeles de San Rafael for pre-season and their departures are a matter of hours.
