'They called me crazy' - Palmeiras director talks selling Matheus Fernandes to Barca

Pameiras sporting director Alexandre Mattos has spoken of how he led Barcelona to sign Matheus Fernandes – and how the Catalan side thought that he was “crazy” when he first proposed the central midfielder to the Camp Nou club.

Fernandes completed his move to the Primera Division side in January and was loaned out to Real Valladolid for the remainder of the campaign, yet he would likely have flown under the radar had it not been for the tenacity of the director. 

Mattos explained his role in an unlikely deal to Fox Sports.

“In October 2019, I called Andre Cury [a Barcelona scout in Brazil] and asked him to speak to [sporting director Eric] Abidal because I wanted to show him a player,” he said.

“Cury thought that it was Dudu.

“Abidal came to watch the Palmeiras reserves train. I told him: 'Watch No.35'.

“At that moment, they called me crazy: ‘You want to sell a player from the Palmeiras reserves, who doesn't play much, to Barcelona?’”

The player later moved to Spain for a confirmed €7 million (£6.3m/$7.7m), plus a potential of €3m in bonus payments.

Although the 21-year-old was not featuring for Palmeiras late in 2019, he has a significant history in Brazil’s Serie A, having turned out regularly for Botafogo before moving to the Sao Paulo-based side, where he featured on 11 occasions during the 2019 season as they finished third.

Since moving to Spain, he has yet to feature for Valladolid, while the league remains in lockdown owing to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has been one of the country’s worst effected by the outbreak, with close to 200,000 cases and 20,000 deaths.

There is still little indication when football may restart and if Fernandes will ever get the chance to turn out for Valladolid before returning to Barcelona in the summer.

Fernandes has previously turned out for Brazil’s youth sides, featuring twice for the Under-17 team and twice for the U20 side. 

On announcing his signing, Barcelona described the player as one who “stands out for his defensive qualities in midfield and his ability to bring the ball out from the back. His usual position is as the holding midfielder due to his excellent skills at winning the ball back. The Brazilian is a well-rounded midfielder with an excellent right foot.”