Atletico Madrid have a deal in place to sign Brazilian forward Marcos Paulo as a free agent this summer.
Now aged 20, the player’s contract at Brazilian club Fluminense has expired and he will move to the Spanish capital as a free agent.
A report from Diario AS now outlines how Los Rojiblancos were saved paying in the region of €30m for the player, whose deal had a €45m release clause – which would have been compromised on.
Read more: Atletico Madrid win race to sign Brazil-based star
It is highlighted how Fluminense regarded the forward as the player with the biggest resale value in the club’s history and had planned to sell him in the summer of 2020.
However, the entire plans were thrown off course by the pandemic – meaning that no clubs were willing to pay such a fee for a player out of contract.
Whilst Paulo has 14 goals for Fluminense, he is not an all-out striker and is primarily a player who likes to drop deep, show for the ball and cover lots of ground from a position predominantly on the left.
Despite his immediate family being Brazilian, the player has represented Portugal up until Under-19 level due to his grandfather, so already has a European passport and would not take up a non-EU spot in Atleti’s squad.
Images via Marca
