Flamengo striker Pedro Guilherme is set to make his international debut for Brazil this week and it has been revealed how a serious knee injury ruined a move to Real Madrid for him back in 2018.
The 23-year-old is currently on loan at the Copa Libertadores holders – where he has netted 16 goals from 30 appearances – from Italian club Fiorentina.
However, Marca report how it all could have been so different for the striker as Madrid had a €30m agreement in place to sign Pedro from his previous club Fluminense in the summer of 2018.
It is said that the agreement was found as the striker, then aged 21, had scored 21 goals in the season leading up to that and he was lined up to be the first signing of new boss Julen Lopetegui at Los Blancos.
After an agreement had been reached, the striker suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament which ruled him out for seven months and the deal was called off.
A previous report from Marca in 2019 quoted Pedro’s representative, Marcio Giugni on the Esporte Espetacular program of Rede Globo, as saying: “At that time we had reached an agreement with Madrid, we just needed to sign, we had already talked with the family and with Fluminense.”
Madrid have recently invested heavily in young Brazilians with deals for Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes already secured in the past year, while Pedro was due to be a striking replacement to help ease the pressure on Karim Benzema following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Now known as the Flamengo ‘killer’ – he has scored 10 goals in the 18 games he has played in this Brasileirao – Pedro looks set to finally fulfil his potential and be capped for the Brazilian senior team.
Image via Marca
