Cruzeiro midfielder, Matheus Pereira silently left a clinic in Belo Horizonte where he performed medical examinations on Thursday (20) to make transfer to Russia’s Zenit. At the scene, there was a Cruzeirense fan, who asked the player for a picture and was not attended.
Now, the realization of the business between Zenit and depends only on an OK from the Russian club for the exams performed by the player. The European Club is in a hurry to close the hiring.
The hurry to close the hiring is because the transfer window to Russian teams closes at 18h (Brasília) this Thursday. The proposal of buying the player can (about $ 118 million) counting bonuses.
Matheus Pereira, 28, has a contract with Cruzeiro until the end of June 2026. Businessmen of the player have been since Wednesday (19) in BH and accompanied the athlete in medical exams.
Prior to Europe’s proposal, Cruzeiro was probed by clubs in the Middle East and Asia, on opportunities rejected by the athlete’s staff and Matheus Pereira himself. Recently, on February 9 this year, Matheus Pereira revealed that he had a desire to leave Cruzeiro for a European club.
“I was in a critical moment of my personal life, and the cruise fortunately opened the doors for me. I was never ungrateful to be here, never complained about being here. Perhaps for an interview I gave at the beginning of the year, talking about going out, in fact it is true, Pedrinho knows that my will, as I told him, was not staying. I expected some proposals from outside, had proposals from inside, refused the proposals from inside, ”he said in a post-game interview in Mineirão.
“I always made it very clear, at the end of the year I talked to Pedrinho, talked to Alexandre Mattos, said I had the desire to leave. We will have a child now, and I wanted to raise it in Europe. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen, ”he added.
Cruzeiro has just over 50% of Matheus Pereira’s rights. The rest belongs to Al-Hilal, from Saudi Arabia.
Matheus Pereira arrived at Cruzeiro in July 2023 after defending Al-Wahda from the United Arab Emirates, where he borrowed by Al-Hilal. In June 2024, the midfielder was bought by the Minas Gerais club after a deal with the Saudis.
Shirt 10 played 81 games for Cruzeiro, 72 as a starter. Matheus Pereira has 12 goals and 17 assists with the celestial shirt and, in October 2024, was summoned to the Brazilian team.
