José de Sousa Cintra took a pretty difficult job earlier this year.
The Portuguese businessman was responsible for replacing former Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho after the attacks at the Alcochete training centre. That was one of the most controversial moments in the club’s history, with several players departing for free.
Cintra only had a few months to sort things out until his successor, Frederico Varandas, won the elections. Now that the situation is back on track, the official has given a pretty long interview to newspaper Record, and explained some of the situations he’s lived at the club.
Cintra explained each one of the departures he had to take care of, claiming that every case was different. He was talking about the issue of Ruben Ribeiro, and that’s when Record mentioned that he managed to find a deal for Willian Carvalho.
“The cases of William Carvalho and Rui Patrício were different,” Cintra told Record.
Asked if he couldn’t do anything about Patrício, he said: “No. He was already there [at Wolves]. In other circumstances I would have asked him to continue, because he was raised at Sporting, he has love for the club.”
“I still talked to Jorge Mendes, but I understood that the problem should only be solved by the new board.”
Regarding the new deal in which Sporting will make €14.8m with the sale to Wolves, Cintra claimed that it’s a good move for the club.
“Yes … It would be important for Sporting to continue with Rui Patrício. But we have to understand when a player is in the same house for so many years and wants to go to other leagues.”
