“TRICOLOR HEART”
Sector is considered the most important on the team by coach Rogério Ceni
Published on December 27, 2024 at 02:00
Rogério Ceni will have a wider range of options in the squad next year Credit: Rafael Rodrigues/EC Bahia
Bahia has not yet officially announced reinforcements for next year, but behind the scenes the tricolor is looking for pieces to fill out Rogério Ceni’s squad. Involved in five competitions in 2025, the Tricolor board has the midfield as its main target in the first market movement.
Although it is not yet official, the Squadron has at least three signings lined up, two of them for midfield. While Erick Pulga, ex-Ceará, arrives to reinforce the attack, Rodrigo Nestor and Michel Araújo, both from São Paulo, will increase the range for Rogério Ceni in the middle.
Rodrigo Nestor, for example, is a midfielder trained at São Paulo who can play in different midfield positions, preferring the left side. His best phase was precisely under the command of Rogério Ceni, in 2022, when he scored eight goals and provided 11 assists in 62 games for the São Paulo tricolor. That year, the team reached the final of the South American Championship, but was defeated by Independiente del Valle.
Michel Araújo, Nestor’s teammate at São Paulo, is originally a left midfielder, but stands out for his versatility and can play different roles. Also under the command of Rogério Ceni, he came to play as a winger and was also improvised on the left side of the São Paulo tricolor.
By the way, having players in the squad who play in different positions is an objective for Bahia. In 2024, midfielder Thaciano was advanced to the attack and ended the year as the team’s top scorer, with 15 goals. Striker Juba established himself on the left flank, while full-back Iago Borduchi was tested as a midfielder.
“It’s a different calendar, often when assembling the squad we try to find athletes for each position, but also athletes who play in more than one position. This, in the coach’s view, is often important. We understand, it’s a very long year, there are a lot of matches, the calendar still suffers even more than those who are on the axis, because there are flights, distances, we travel many more kilometers than the other teams”, he explained. football director Cadu Santoro during an interview with ESPN.
In addition to Rodrigo Nestor and Michel Araújo, Bahia has advanced negotiations for midfielder Erick, from Athletico-PR and exercised the option to purchase fellow midfielder Acevedo, who signed a permanent contract until the end of 2029. The Uruguayan is in the Squadron on loan from New York City, club managed by Grupo City in the United States. In the opposite direction, Carlos de Pena left the club.
The midfield is considered by Rogério Ceni to be the heart of Bahia. Throughout the season, the coach spoke several times about the importance of having technical players in position to control the opponent from possession of the ball. So much so that Ceni established the starting team formed by the quartet composed of Caio Alexandre, Jean Lucas, Everton Ribeiro and Cauly.
However, especially during the Brasileirão, Bahia felt a lack of spare parts. Midfielder Rezende was injured and was absent from the team in the final stretch of Serie A. Acevedo was out of action for ten months due to knee surgery.
“I think it is in the group’s interest to increasingly strengthen this team. The Brazilian Championship is the most important. If you want to be successful, the focus must always be on the Brazilian Championship. And the competition will be great, if you look, big teams were behind us. Many of them invested heavily in this second window”, said the Tricolor coach after the end of the Brasileirão.
