In the final week of the transfer window, we saw Brentford failing to sign Welington from São Paulo.
The player himself confirmed that there was a bid from the Bees, and that was turned by the Tricolor, who apparently didn’t want to lose the fullback in the middle of the Brazilian season.
It turns out that according to Goal Brasil, São Paulo have just agreed Welington’s transfer to CSKA.
The Russian side are reportedly spending US$5.5m on the signing, with a potential US$500k in bonuses, and leaving the Tricolor with 30% of a future transfer.
That only shows how close Brentford got, because according to reports from Brazil at that time, the Bees had put €4.5m on the table, also giving São Paulo 30% of profit from a future move.
It had even been claimed that the player was attracted by the move, but São Paulo were so convicted of keeping him that they set a €20m price for his sale.
That ended up being a big bluff from the Brazilian club, and had Brentford insisted a little more, it seems they could have got the signing done.
