Danilo Barbosa (mid) Nice, FRA - on loan; Dudu (att) Al-Duhail, QAT - return from loan on August;
Out
Emerson Santos (sp)(def) Kashiwa Reysol, JAP; Ramires (sp)(mid) end of contract
Finished 7th last season, but were winners for both Libertadores and Brazilian Cup. Coach Abel Ferreira had a major impact after arriving at the club. This season, 'Verdão' lost Campeonato Paulista in the final against rivals São Paulo, and it's heading for Libertadores quarter-finals.
Palmeiras signed with just one new player: the versatile Danilo Barbosa, an old player of Abel Ferreira at Braga, in Portugal. Danilo will try to recover some time lost after he was hailed as a future worldwide star, 5 years ago. Winger Dudu, a club's idol, will return to the club, but not before August.
On the good side, Verdão haven't lost any of last season's important players. Felipe Melo has been linked with a move to Internacional, and quite frankly that could only be a positive move for Palmeiras, as Melo's influence on the squad has more negatives than positives, these days.
Abel Ferreira managed to capture a significant capital of trust among the club and players, which will help him to build a team by himself with little to no interference.
The squad is quite deep and there is enough quality for Palmeiras to rival with Atlético MG as the biggest challengers to Flamengo on the title race.
The biggest attention will be paid to the set of young talents on the squad. Holding midfielders Patrick and Danilo and pacey wingers Wesley and Gabriel Véron are real gems, but no one is more valuable these days than versatile midfielder Gabriel Menino.
Abel is trying to implement a 3-4-1-2 strategy. Raphael Veiga is the no. 10, but neither him nor Lucas Lima not even Gustavo Scarpa has been convincing in that role.
