Waiting for Tite, Flamengo fires Jorge Sampaoli – 09/28/2023 – Sport

This Thursday (28) the turbulent passage of Jorge Sampaoli, 63, at Flamengo ended. The Argentine coach was fired by the club with which he had signed a contract in April this year.

In a brief statement, the association informed that “coach Jorge Sampaoli and his technical committee no longer lead the red and black squad. The management thanks the professional and wishes him luck in continuing his career.”

His departure comes at a time when negotiations between the red and black board are progressing to hire Tite, the coach who led the Brazilian team in the last two World Cups.

Sampaoli led the Rio team in 39 games, in which he never kept the same lineup from one match to another. He accumulated 20 wins, 11 draws and eight defeats, in addition to failures in the club’s two main objectives this season: the search for the Libertadores and Copa do Brasil titles.

He was at risk of leaving even before the final against São Paulo, but he resisted. He was once again left with a rope around his neck after the defeat in the first game, at Maracanã, by 1-0. The atmosphere for him at the club was so bad that even in the event of a title his stay was not expected.

In the continental tournament, the failure was even earlier, with the defeat in the round of 16. Furthermore, Flamengo is only in seventh place in the Brazilian Championship, 11 points behind leader Botafogo.

The results on the field reflected the tense atmosphere outside it, such as the aggression suffered by Pedro, victim of a punch given by Pablo Fernández, one of Sampaoli’s assistants — fired after the case —, in addition to the exchange of aggression between Gerson and Varela in a training. Even Marcos Braz, vice-president of the club, had a fight with a fan in a shopping center in Rio de Janeiro.

With each new crisis, added to the poor results on the field, Sampaoli’s dismissal was considered and, in the last few days, it became a matter of time — and money. The coach’s termination fine is valued at 1 million euros (R$9.5 million). At the beginning of the contract, the value was 2.5 million euros (R$ 13.3 million), but it was decreasing as the days worked for him.

The official departure of the Argentine coach paves the way for Tite to be hired. The coach often says that he does not negotiate with clubs that have coaches under contract as a matter of respect.

Also keeping an eye on his work, Corinthians fired Vanderlei Luxemburgo on Wednesday (27) to try to bring back the coach with whom he experienced one of the most successful periods in the team’s history, but there was no positive signal from him.

Last Tuesday (26), the former coach of the Brazilian team had already arrived in Rio de Janeiro, where he went to hear the proposal from Flamengo’s directors.

Corinthians ended up making an agreement with Mano Menezes, announced this Thursday. Flamengo, for now, has not yet made Tite’s arrival official. Following Sampaoli’s dismissal, this now looks increasingly imminent.