Santos manager Cuca appeared to make an indirect reference toward wanting to keep Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa at the club in a press conference ahead of the Peixe’s match with Chapecoense.

“We only thought about planning 2018. We can not think about 2019 without knowing where we will be. We are thinking about the future, but the most important thing is the present and the permanence of the players we have,” he said.

Cuca has played a huge role in helping Gabigol to recover the form that lead Inter to fork out approximately €30 million for him back in 2016. The 22-year-old striker, who has been on loan with Santos since January this year, has scored 16 goals in 31 league games and several more in cup competitions.

Santos’ president and the player for that matter have both recently discussed the difficulties of staying past the expiration of the current loan deal and with alleged interest from some of their fellow Brazilian clubs it only makes things further difficult.