Club president speaks about his efforts to sign Tottenham player – Took advantage of holiday to kick things off

When São Paulo managed to sign Lucas Moura last summer, it was quite an achievement for the Brazilian club.

The winger was leaving Tottenham Hotspur as a free agent, but since he was just 30-years-old, the Tricolor had some big competition to land him.

São Paulo are now being linked to Casemiro, and as their president Julio Casares was asked by Metropoles about that possibility, and ruled it out due to finances, he recalled the operation for Moura.

The club chief claimed it was a completely different situation when brining the winger from Tottenham, as he had some very specific meetings to convince him to move back to Brazil.

“Lucas didn’t arrive overnight. We talked to him when he was on holiday in Brazil. When I went to Europe I had the opportunity to meet him twice, his agents and his family. And then it happened that Lucas came for a short period of three months, he was a champion, he was back with his favourite team and we were with him, and we started to work on continuity,” Julio Casares told Metropoles.

Lucas Moura joined São Paulo in August and did very well, being important in their campaign for their first Copa do Brasil title.

At first, he had signed a contract until the end of 2023, but his first few months there were so good that he ended up renewing his deal until December 2026.

Playing for Tottenham between 2018 and 2023, Moura scored 39 goals and contributed 27 assists in 221 appearances.