Wolves youngster Pedro Lima has explained what convinced him to leave England for São Paulo, revealing the whole deal came together in just a week.
The 20-year-old has now been officially announced by the Brazilian club after joining on loan from Wolves.
Speaking after arriving in São Paulo, Lima sounded particularly pleased with the plan presented to him by manager Dorival Júnior and former Bayern Munich full-back Rafinha, who is the club’s Director of Football. His quotes were relayed by club insider outlet Nação Tricolor.
“I’m very happy to be here and really looking forward to meeting all the São Paulo fans,” he said.
“The negotiation was really very quick, one week of talks, but Rafinha and Dorival presented us with a good plan.”
“I’m really looking forward to meeting the fans. I can’t wait to wear such a traditional shirt. I’m very happy to be here and let’s go São Paulo.”
Lima won’t be able to get started straight away though. São Paulo face Boca Juniors in the Copa Sudamericana quarter-finals on Tuesday, but the Wolves youngster couldn’t be registered for the competition.
That means his debut should instead come against Internacional in the Brazilian league on September 19. São Paulo are at home for that one, giving Lima a possible first chance to show why they were so keen to bring him back to Brazil.
Wolves still involved financially
There are also a couple of extra details about the agreement. Nação Tricolor say São Paulo will pay around €47k (£41k) per month towards Lima’s wages. Wolves will cover the remaining part.
That fits with Globo Esporte’s previous information that Wolves would continue paying 60% of his salary.
The latest report puts the loan until June 2027 and again says there’s no purchase option. Earlier information from Globo Esporte had the initial agreement running until December, with appearances potentially extending it into 2027.
Either way, the important bit for Wolves remains the same. They haven’t handed São Paulo any route to buy the defender permanently. Lima remains their player and is under contract at Molineux until 2029.
After Flamengo, Palmeiras and Atlético Mineiro were all linked with him in recent months, São Paulo were the ones who got a deal done.
Judging by Lima’s first comments in Brazil, their plan for actually getting him on the pitch helped them win that race.
