ANDl Valencia takes more than a week iTrying to seduce Leonardo de Arajo, former sports director of Milan and PSG, with a position of executive and institutional responsibility in Peter Lim’s new project, with Gattuso as coach. Leonardo has ceased this summer to be sports director of the Parisian club and has not yet decided on his future. The top shareholder had thought initially in Ramn Planes -ex of Getafe and Barcelona- and got in touch with him to make him a proposal. But between the fact that he also had that of Barkala, a candidate in the Athletic elections and that he did not quite see the project clearly, he rejected the proposal.
In an interview in ‘L’Equipe’ in which he reviews everything that has had to do with his departure from the Parisian club, he also refers to Valencia’s proposal, although he responds evasively: “There is nothing concrete, we have talked a little, yes, but nothing more. [Valencia] is another club where I played, the fact that people are talking about me there makes me happy”.
MARCA anticipated on Friday June 10 that Leonardo became the first on the list to direct the sports area of the club. One day after Gennaro Gattuso’s presentation, direct choice of Peter Lim with the direct advice of his friend the agent Jorge Mendes The Singaporean tycoon was clear that the former black and white player could be a great option to assume the two roles that he should assume – between being a spokesman and heading the sports structure.
In any case, Leonardo, in the same interview, drops one of the virtues that favor him in the race to become Valencia’s sports director. “I was sports director here [PSG] and in Milan, two clubs where I played; the fact of having played in a club is something positive”, he warns.
Leonardo played for Valencia between 1991 and 1993, although he later returned to Brazil to continue his career as a footballer. He also played for PSG and Milan, and went through Japan’s Kashima Antlers. He had a brief coaching career at Milan, Inter and Turkey’s Antalyaspor.
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