Gabriel Barbosa eyes return to Brazilian football
Rio de Janeiro, Dec 15 (IANS) Out of sorts Benfica striker Gabriel Barbosa could return to Brazil in January in a bid to revive his stalled football career, according to the 21-year-old’s agent.
Flamengo, Cruzeiro and his former club Santos are reportedly in the running to sign Barbosa, who has endured a wretched time in Europe in the past 16 months, reports Xinhua news agency.
“Anything is possible,” his representative Wagner Ribeiro told Brazilian news service Superesportes, adding that media reports were “just speculation”.
Barbosa has made just four appearances across all competitions for Benfica since joining the Portuguese club on a season-long loan from Inter Milan in August.
That followed an almost equally unimpressive 2016-17 season in Italy, in which he scored just twice in 18 matches after the Nerazzurri paid 30 million euros ($35,348 million) to sign him from Santos on a five-year contract.
Capped four times for Brazil’s senior national team, Barbosa was a member of his country’s gold medal-winning football team at last year’s Rio Olympics.
