Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa has admitted that he had offers from clubs in Europe prior to completing a permanent switch to Flamengo from Inter in the January transfer window.
Flamengo signed Gabigol for €16.5 million from Inter after his highly successful loan spell at the club in 2019 in which he scored 43 goals in 58 appearances across all competitions and played a pivotal role in them winning the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A and Copa Libertadores and reaching the final of the Club World Cup.
“I never had many chances to play in Europe. When I received offers from different teams in Europe, I preferred to stay at Flamengo because that was what I wanted,” the 23-year-old striker remarked in an interview with Brazilian broadcaster ESPN.
“It took a while because of Inter, but I always wanted to stay at Flamengo and I hope to stay here for a long time and to win many titles.”
The former Santos player was then asked which clubs made offers for him but remained very tight lipped when he responded to the question with him saying: “I won’t mention any names, but there were several European teams.”
Reports at the time had suggested that Chelsea in particular were keen on him whilst several other Premier League clubs were linked as were some other clubs who play in Europe’s top five leagues.
