Brazilian attacking midfielder Marquinhos Gabriel must sign a four-year contract with Brasileirão champions Corinthians on Monday.
According to Lance!, Marquinhos Gabriel was more closer to Santos until last Thursday, as they came to offer more to the player and also to Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia. Corinthians eventually beat Santos to the player"s signature, and the turning point was the attitude of Santos which bothered the Arabs and the player"s representatives. The main reason was the delay of Santos in completing the negotiations and also the participation of many agents, trying to broker the return of Marquinhos to the Vila Belmiro. It all started late last year when Santos designated agent Caio Ziller, a partner of Augusto Castro [agent of striker Ricardo Oliveira], to travel to the Middle East and negotiate with Al Nassr. Representatives of Marquinhos Gabriel didn"t want someone else to take part in the negotiations, because it would generate extra costs as commission. In their view, Saints could raise the offer to Marquinhos and the Arabs, instead of paying the middlemen.
Unsuccessful between December 2015 and January this year, Santos turned to agent Luiz Taveira, according to people involved in the negotiations. Once again, the involvement of a third-party in the negotiations bothered Marquinhos. And last week, another businessman introduced himself as a representative of Santos in an attempt to bring back the player. However, Corinthians made a proposal to Al Nassr to pay the full amount in cash, as demanded by the Arabs, and a deal was reached. While Santos would"ve paid €3.1 million, Corinthians managed to reach an agreement for a lesser amount [€2.6 million] but will have to leave a part of the economic rights with Marquinhos" former club. In December, famous agent Giuliano Bertolucci tried to participate in the negotiations between Corinthians and Al Nassr, but was unsuccessful. Now, however, the talks were directly between the board of Corinthians, Al Nasse and the representatives of the player, which was crucial. Willing to play the Copa Libertadores and trusting that he can develop more under the guidance of coach Tite, Marquinhos Gabriel accepted a lower salary at Corinthians.