Manchester City new signing Allan Elias has spoken emotionally about leaving Palmeiras before he travelled to England.
The 22-year-old was honoured by Palmeiras president Leila Pereira before Wednesday’s clash with Santos. That was the send-off we covered earlier this week, with Allan’s playing days at the Brazilian club already over.
He’ll now head to Manchester to complete the final steps of his move to City.
Speaking to SporTV during Wednesday’s farewell, Allan admitted leaving the club where he has spent eight years isn’t easy.
Goodbye with a heavy heart
“My heart is very heavy,” Allan said. “I arrived here at 14 and today I’m leaving at 22, so it’s almost an entire lifetime here.”
“But I was very happy here, I was very happy at Palmeiras. It’s a club I learned to love and learned to support with my soul.
“I really was a supporter out there on the pitch. I’m very happy with everything I’m experiencing, with the magical nights and days I had here. And I’ll definitely take every little piece of this club with me.”
Allan joined Palmeiras as a teenager and worked his way through their academy before becoming an important player for manager Abel Ferreira.
His final appearance came in Sunday’s 4-1 victory over Vasco da Gama. He returned to the pitch with his family after that game, something which now looks even more significant.
Family sacrifices behind Manchester City move
Allan also used his farewell to speak about his parents and what they sacrificed during his journey.
“It’s very rewarding,” he said. “I have quite a complicated story, but it doesn’t even come close to my parents’ story.
“My parents left their jobs. There were nights when they went without eating so they could give food to me and my brother. So it’s very rewarding to be able to give this to them and experience all of this together with them as well.”
Those words put a different perspective on a transfer which has largely been discussed in terms of negotiations and numbers over the past week.
Manchester City agreed to pay €37.5m (£32.4m) guaranteed, plus another €2.5m (£2.2m) through objectives considered easy to achieve. Further bonuses are included for more difficult targets.
For Allan, though, Wednesday was about saying goodbye to the club he joined as a 14-year-old. That part is now done.
His next stop is Manchester, where he’ll complete the remaining formalities before beginning the next stage of his career with City.
