Palmeiras president Leila Pereira has revealed that she ‘did everything’ to keep Gustavo Scarpa at the club before he moved to Nottingham Forest.
Scarpa completed a move to the City Ground on a free transfer in the January window, following the expiry of his contract with the Brazilian champions. He was a key player for Palmeiras as they lifted their 11th title.
He was given instant game time at the City Ground after moving to the Premier League, featuring in all three games in January after his move to the club. Scarpa also started the 2-0 win over Leicester City as well as the 2-0 loss against Fulham.
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Speaking to the Brazilian press, Pereira revealed how the ‘dream’ of moving to the Premier League proved to be too big a pull for Scarpa, despite the efforts of the club to keep the player.
“What I told Scarpa before he went was for him not to go,” she told Gazeta Esportiva . “I did everything for him to stay, but he didn’t want to, it was a dream, you know. But he was very correct at Palmeiras, a golden boy. And I said that Palmeiras has its doors open.”
Since mid February, Scarpa has found game time hard to come by due to both personal reasons and injury. He was allowed to travel back to Brazil after losing money in a Cryptocurrency scam.
After returning for the clash against Newcastle United, Scarpa missed out on the squad for the game vs Wolves. He returned to action as a second half substitute against Leeds United.
However, he has now missed Forest's last two games after suffering a calf injury. There has been no timescale put on his potential return to action.
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