Marseilles (AFP)

Olympique de Marseille announced on Wednesday that they had reached an "agreement in principle" with Brazilian club Flamengo for the transfer of 24-year-old midfielder Gerson.

Revealed at Fluminense, Flamengo's rival club in Rio de Janeiro, Gerson left for Europe very early, at age 18, in 2016, to play for Roma, but he never won in Italy and ended up returning to his native country in 2019, after an unconvincing stint on loan at Fiorentina.

The Marseille club, which announced the next arrival of its new recruit on its Twitter account, did not give any details on the duration of the midfielder's contract or the amount of the transfer.

The Brazilian site globoesporte.com recently mentioned a transfer of 25 million euros, and a five-year contract for the player who was in Serbia last weekend, where he was to face Cape Verde, in a friendly match. hopes of the Brazilian selection.

Still according to globoesporte.com, Gerson is still expected to play matches in the Brazilian league and the Copa Libertadores before flying to France, "in the first half of July".

It was upon his return to Brazil, to Flamengo, that Gerson really exploded, becoming a centerpiece of the Copa Libertadores winning squad that supporters of Brazil's most popular team have been waiting for 38 years.

According to Brazilian media, his transfer to OM was a top priority for Jorge Sampaoli, new OM coach who had seen him play in Brazil when he coached Santos, then Atlético Mineiro.

© 2021 AFP