A tricky few months in Curitiba had left Robaato Rasamu facing arguably the biggest challenge of his short managerial career. He’d taken charge of an Athlético Paranaense side that was underperforming and, the way he saw it, was filled with prima donnas earning far too much money and in some cases were far too old.
At the end of the 2035 campaign, he wasted no time in transfer listing a mass of players he didn’t want to work with. He sold 22 players for a profit of £46m, including irritating striker Tom and centre back Carlos Bruno going to Saudi for £11m and £12.5m and wantaway midfielder Vítor joining Santos for £5m. That also freed up more than £200k from their weekly wage spending.
However, the board only made 55% of transfer fees available, so Rasamu didn’t go crazy. He signed wonderkid right back Nicolás Monserrat for a club record £8m from Argentinos Jrs, Flamengo attacker Polaco for £1.8m, centre-back Fernando Rébola for £375k from DyJ and a proper bargain as 18-year-old Peruvian striker Abel Aguilar arrived for £200k from Mannucci.
He also promoted promising youngsters like striker Pipoca, midfielder Anderson, attacking midfielder / striker Ney, winger Paulo Roberto Aal and brilliantly named goalkeeper Garrincha. That took the teenager count in the first-team squad to eight and brought the average age down to 21.46. And two of their young talents made the NxGn 2036 with midfielder Lucas Pena Barcelos 4th and Aguilar 29th.
Rasamu treated the season-opening Campeonato Paranaense 1XBET as a chance to test tactics and blood youngsters. Polaco scored twice and Anderson got two assists on their debuts in a 6-1 win over Toledo, Aal became the club’s youngest scorer aged 17 years 202 days in a 3-0 win over Cascavel, and Aguilar bagged a hat trick in a club record 11-1 thrashing of Rio Blanco. They won 10 out of 11, only drawing at Curitiba, to top the group by two points then both the big sides breezed into the Final. Paranaense won a terrible away leg 1-0 then spanked their rivals 6-0 to win their 36th title, setting new club records of 14 consecutive wins and 15 games unbeaten.
The result of that testing was Rasamu settling on the asymmetric 4-4-2 formation he used at Kaizer Chiefs with a few role tweaks.
Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana
While the Libertadores was the most important competition on Rasamu’s list, Copa Sudamericana at least offered a chance at continental success. And they somehow managed to qualify for the competition despite finishing in 14th, outside the qualification places. Without questioning why, Rasamu was excited by a group alongside Colombian side Junior FC, Uruguay’s River Plate and Zamora FC of Venezuela.
They began at home to River Plate and eased to a 3-0 win through Aguilar, Eduardo and Villamayor, who then scored the only goal at Junior before a rotated side also 3-0 win at River Plate led by a Pipoca brace. A 7-1 battering of Zamora secured qualification so Rasamu rotated and they finished with a loss and a draw but easily topped the group.
First Full Brasileiro Assaí Série A Campaign
The bookies expect an improved performance, predicting Paranaense to finish 8th with odds of 25/1 to win Série A. Flamengon are huge 6/5 favourites followed by Palmeiras (9/2), Sao Paulo (9/1), Fluminense (11/1), Internacional (13/1) and Santos (20/1).
The protracted pre-season meant Paranaense began Série A when some teams had already played four games. They also had a really tough start, but carried their strong form into the main league by dominating Corinthians 3-1 away. However, an 18-game winning streak ended with consecutive defeats at new South American champions Fluminense, Internacional and leaders Santos, before Aguilar’s goal got them back on track with a 1-0 win at home to Goiás.
That victory provided the spark Paranaense needed as Pipoca came into the team to bag a brace in a 4-1 victory over Bragantino then the exciting Ney got his first senior goal in a 3-0 win at Cuiabá. However, the Brazilian league has to be among the most brutal in the world. Paranaense didn’t get a full week off from 13 April all the way through to 13 July – playing every Wednesday and Saturday/Sunday. So rotation was absolutely necessary, but then again, it was the same for every team in the league. As a result, Paranaense went on a good run, including edging 1-0 and 2-1 wins over Flamengo and Palmeiras, which saw them move into the top five and Rasamu win his first Série A manager of the month award in June.
But not content with that, he added an exiting new signing in July, sneaking in to sign Argentinian Claudio Saavedra from under the noses of Liverpool, PSG and Man City for just £6.5m from Argentinos Jrs. He’s currently a midfielder but Rasamu believed he had the attributes required to be converted into a false nine just like his previous wonderkid Luis Fernández.
Saavedra started brightly, scoring half an hour into his debut to inspire a 2-0 win at Vasco and again in a 4-3 victory over struggling Vitória. And his goals pushed Paranaense all the way up to 2nd in Série A at the halfway mark of the campaign. They only trailed Palmeiras on goal difference with a game in hand but plenty of teams behind them had an extra game to play.
Could Rasamu’s young Paranaense continue their strong start to Série A and challenge for the title? And could they compete in Copa Sudamericana? Join us on Friday to find out!
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