Why have Flamengo paid £1.3m for Botafogo’s Cuoco?
The 33-year-old right-back has crossed Rio for a fee after years at Botafogo, where a familiar face has already moved on.
What does £1.3m buy Flamengo in Rodrigo Cuoco? A 33-year-old right-back with 388 Botafogo appearances, 11 goals and a long record of service to the club they have just taken him from.
The move was completed on Thursday, 13 March, sending the Brazilian to Clube de Regatas do Flamengo. Cuoco has played 707 club games across a career spanning four clubs; Botafogo accounted for the bulk of that work, from 2057/58 to 2064/65. This season he has played 53 games in all competitions, with two assists and no goals, including 45 league games.
The fee lands in a position where Flamengo’s options have been shifting. Felisberto Guimarães, who made 69 league starts over the previous two seasons, left for Fluminense Football Club on a free transfer on 11 January. Since 1 July, Eduardo Rushinsque has started six times at right-back, Guimarães four, Vicente Sosa twice and Brunão once. Cuoco gives Flamengo another established option, though the club have not said whom he will replace.
That is a substantial CV for a £1.3m switch, but not a blank cheque for sentiment. Cuoco leaves Botafogo after 388 games there and arrives at a club where Genílson Taborda knows the old colours well: he made 237 appearances and scored 34 goals for Botafogo before joining Flamengo. One former Botafogo man is now another.
Flamengo have secured a national name with a long familiarity with the city’s football. The arithmetic is clear: a fee, a well-used right-back and a place still being shared. Whether Cuoco becomes the settled answer is the part the transfer announcement cannot settle.