Brazilian striker Cléverson Córdova, also known as Cléo, is currently playing for the local second division side Goiás. But he could be somewhere better, in the case he had accepted offers from top European clubs a few years ago.
The player was doing pretty well for Partizan in 2011, when he started receiving attention from other sides. In an interview with ESPN Brasil, he recalled the race to sign him: “It was a situation where I had to go, I had no choice.
The now 31-year-old reckons it would’ve been good to play for a club such as Liverpool, but he has no regrets: “I could be playing in Europe nowadays, but I wouldn’t have financially got what I did in four years in China. I would have to play a whole career in Europe and work as a coach to get close to that.
“Of course it was very difficult because it’s everyone’s dream to play for a major European club, especially after Roy Hodgson called me a ‘goal machine’. But I don’t regret it. I secured my financial independence.”
Cleo spent two years at Guangzhou Evergrande and was loaned out for a season to Kashiwa Reysol until his contract with the Chinese club expired. He later joined Atlético Paranense before finally signing for Goiás this year.
Let’s just suppose Cleo is being entirely truthful and he could have signed for Liverpool and still be in Europe now… he would have surely secured his financial independence. Whilst it’s refreshing to hear a footballer be so honest about money dictating decisions, it’s not as if he’d have had to get another job after a career including Liverpool.
