On Wednesday, we featured a story about the nightmare lived by Nottingham Forest’s Gustavo Scarpa in the past few months.
The midfielder left Brazilian champions Palmeiras for the Reds in January. Since then, he’s felt the impact of falling into a £1m scam, struggled with injuries, and his club are threatened by the possibility of relegation.
This week, Palmeiras president Leila Pereira was interviewed by Pedro Bial on Globo (via Gazeta Esportiva). There, he was asked about Gustavo Scarpa, and had a few things to say about the Nottingham Forest player.
First, regarding the scam, which is now being dealt with by the Brazilian legal system, she made clear she would’ve stopped him. Leila Pereira made her made herself famous for owning a loan company who sponsor the club, and could have used her experience to convince him.
“It’s absurd. I’m an extremely available president and I’m at the Football Academy every day. I have lunch with the athletes and they have all the freedom to talk to me. with me: ‘Aunt Leila, what do you think of this?’
“I’m not there to give investment suggestions to athletes. I would never do that. But I would say: ‘Scarpa, please don’t do that’ or to any of the athletes.”
Regarding his decision to leave Palmeiras for Nottingham Forest, she made it clear she tried to keep him at the club, but couldn’t stop him.
“I didn’t talk to him about it (cryptocurrency scam). In fact, what I told Scarpa before he went there was for him not to go. I did everything for him to stay, but he didn’t want to, it was a dream, you know? But he was very correct at Palmeiras, a golden boy. And I said that Palmeiras has its doors open.”
As reported by Sport Witness, Scarpa currently has a calf injury and has no date set to return.
