Back in 2016, two youngsters called Gabriel were shining in Brazil.
While Gabriel Jesus showed all his potential at Palmeiras, there was also Gabriel Barbosa doing the same at Santos.
Both agreed their moves to Europe in that year, with the first signing for Manchester City, and the latter joining Inter Milan.
Now it turns out that their stories actually crossed each other at one point. That’s something told by Alexandre Mattos, who was Palmeiras’ football director at that time.
“Palmeiras sold Gabriel Jesus in the middle of the year to Manchester City. And we believed that Gabriel would only go if he stayed until the end of the year, even to try to be Brazilian champion. And we convinced Gabriel first, then we convinced City. Huge difficulty, the rules of England and such, but it worked,” Alexandre Mattos told ESPN.
As reported by the Brazilian media at the time, Palmeiras’ deal with Manchester City said the transfer could be cancelled in case another club showed up paying an extra fee of €8m.
“And then one of the things we had to do is to shield Palmeiras. Because the interest started to be very big, and Palmeiras had a contract that said that if someone paid €8m, Gabriel had to leave. And €8m for a player like Gabriel, the way he was meteoric, was given. So to shield this, I took the plane, went to Europe, went to the main clubs, I said: ‘Look, you have to talk to Palmeiras, it’s not possible, I have to talk to Palmeiras’.
“In one of these meetings, Inter Milan really wanted Gabriel. And I even negotiated astronomical values with Inter… They made the proposal, but Gabriel didn’t want to. Gabriel had given Guardiola his word. But I was very close to the board there, specifically the director of Inter Milan.”
“It was then that Gabigol, one of the stars of Santos, appeared in the conversations. Santos had that great team, right. Lucas Lima playing a lot, Gabigol playing a lot, Ricardo Oliveira scoring in every way… It was in place. And the opportunity arose to stir the water there too, right.”
“So at a certain point, I spoke to the Italian agent, who took me to discuss Gabriel Jesus, and I spoke to the player’s agent and I spoke to the director: ‘Friend, I have the solution. Gabriel Jesus is not going. There’s a player who is even more experienced than him, which is Gabigol’. And he said: ‘But is he good? The guys are offering me’. And I said: ‘He’s not good, he’s great’. And I really think he is. We have seen what Gabigol is doing until today.
“They started to negotiate, and the deal worked, even for a lower amount than Inter wanted to pay for Gabriel Jesus. The deal worked.”
Gabriel Jesus joined Manchester City in January 2017. He’s now been at the club for nearly five years, with 85 goals in 203 appearances, and at the age of 24, it’s already fair to say he’s had a decent career in European football.
Gabriel Barbosa, however, had a different path. Things didn’t work well for him at Inter Milan, where he had one goal in 10 appearances, neither did it work during a loan at Benfica, where he scored once in five games.
Things got better for him since he returned to Brazil. He recovered his football during a loan at Santos, and then Inter Milan sold him to Flamengo. There he has an impressive record of 77 goals and 22 assists in 109 games, having won the Brazilian League twice, the Copa Libertadores once, and has a chance at his second continental title as they’re qualified for the final against Palmeiras in December.
