Palmeiras president Arnaldo Tirone has revealed that he is not optimistic about the chances of signing Argentine star Juan Roman Riquelme.
Riquelme, 34, has been identified by the relegated São Paulo giants as the ideal player for their Copa Libertadores campaign and to help them achieve promotion back to the top flight of Brazilian football, but the deal is looking unlikely despite Tirone going to Buenos Aires.
“We have studied him, it was offered. But there’s nothing decided,” he told Lancenet!
“It can happen, but it is not an easy operation. It was his brother who spoke with our senior football people. It has nothing agreed.
“The difficulty is to formalise the operation as a whole because he is a big name player.
“The possibility exists but that does not mean anything. So far, there is nothing for me to say now. He just told me he wanted to come here.”
Riquelme is seen as a replacement for Chilean midfielder Jorge Valdivia who no longer has the confidence of the club and the board does not rule out selling the player.
The chances of Riquelme leaving Boca has been reduced slightly though given that Carlos Bianchi has returned to the club as coach.
Riquelme played some of the best football in his career under Bianchi and they have a great relationship, so it is understood that the coach will try to convince the playmaker to play for Boca again.
