Alexandre Mattos returns to Cruzeiro after ten years; remember reinforcements, sales and frustrated returns | cruise

Ten years later, Alexandre Mattos is back at Cruzeiro. The director, who arrived to be the strong man in football under Pedro Lourenço’s management, had a successful spell at Toca da Raposa and, on two occasions, his return was frustrated.

The choice for Cruzeiro was quick, according to Gabriel Grando

Mattos was trained as a director at América-MG, where he stayed for six years – between 2005 and 2011. In March 2012, he was chosen by Cruzeiro, then headed by Gilvan de Pinho Tavares, to lead a restructuring process after the team almost be relegated in the Brazilian Championship.

In the first season, Cruzeiro was in the middle of the table in the Brazilian Championship and began to form a group that would become two-time champions soon after, led by Marcelo Oliveira.

Mattos remained on Cruzeiro’s football board until the end of 2014, accumulating two victories in the Brasileirão, one in the Campeonato Mineiro and a runner-up in the Copa do Brasil. The transition was marked by impactful signings and few changes of coaches.

In addition to Marcelo Oliveira, who held the position for more than two years, the other commander hired by Alexandre Mattos was Celso Roth. After the team’s elimination in the 2012 Copa do Brasil, he arrived to replace Vagner Mancini.

Celso Roth stayed at Cruzeiro between May and December 2012, fired after the end of the Brasileirão. Marcelo Oliveira arrived after two runners-up finishes in the Copa do Brasil with Coritiba. The club’s football management was protested over the hiring, as the commander had a history as an Atlético-MG player.

Still in 2012, Alexandre Mattos made some impactful moves in the window in search of signings, agreeing with Ceará (then at PSG), Tinga (former Inter and Borussia) and Borges (Libertadores champion with Santos the previous year).

In 2013, expression names increased. Cruzeiro beat the competition for Everton Ribeiro and Ricardo Goulart (who would become the team’s main names in winning the Brasileirão), re-edited Dagoberto’s duo with Borges, in addition to making important investments to sign defender Dedé, midfielder Diego Souza and striker Willian Bigode. In 2014, the base was maintained, and Manoel and Marcelo Moreno were the main signings.

At that time, Cruzeiro also signed young people who had stood out as professionals in other clubs. Lucca and Marlone, who stood out for Criciúma and Vasco, did not succeed at Toca.

Even though it made significant signings, Cruzeiro also achieved important sales during Mattos’ management in football. Between the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015, after winning the second Brazilian championship, the club managed to put more than R$70 million in cash with the sales of Egídio, Lucas Silva, Everton Ribeiro and Ricardo Goulart.

The overall value of the negotiations was more than double that mentioned, but the athletes had their economic rights “sliced”, which reduced the amount raised by Cruzeiro. Also in 2014, the club traded defender Wallace with Braga, from Portugal – in a transaction also with division of rights -, getting around R$17 million.

After Cruzeiro, Mattos also had a successful spell at Palmeiras, where he left at the end of 2019. Soon after, he received an invitation to work as a kind of “consultant” for the transitional management council. But, with the departure of Pedro Lourenço from the administration, Mattos also stopped participating in it.

Two years later, the executive had another “lightning visit” to Toca da Raposa. In fact, he never even attended the training center. Still at the end of the 2021 Series B, Mattos received an invitation from Sérgio Santos Rodrigues to be the club’s director from the end of the national competition.

Mattos lived in the United States and accepted the invitation. He started work before returning to Brazil, including with the club having announced signings and the renewal of Vanderlei Luxemburgo for 2022. But, before the executive presented himself in BH, the SAF shares were sold to Ronaldo Fenômeno, who took over football and carried out changes in the technical command and executive board.