The São Paulo Sentinel
Squad14 Feb 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alan Franco
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. São Paulo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Feb 2028
Pedrinho puts it in writing
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at São Paulo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A falling-out at São Paulo
Pedrinho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Real improvement from Bernardo Valim at São Paulo
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bernardo Valim is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Alfredo Hurtado falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market14 Feb 2028
One of our own: Danilo Silva joins the São Paulo first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Danilo Silva is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market14 Feb 2028
Caio Lopes steps up from the São Paulo academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Caio Lopes has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market14 Feb 2028
Éder Pacheco steps up from the São Paulo academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Éder Pacheco has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Loan watch14 Feb 2028
Fernandinho counts the days
“I watch every São Paulo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Goiatuba runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
- The dugout A door opens for Thiago Couto
- The dugout The manager comes out for Alfredo Hurtado