Léo Jardim was announced as Vasco’s tenth reinforcement for the 2023 season and arrives after an interest that began in November last year. The positive outcome happened earlier this week, but the first appointment by the goalkeeper was more than two months ago.
In the middle of the way, Vasco closed with Ivan, another reinforcement for the position that will give coach Mauricio Barbieri a good headache. After all, for many years the club has not had two goalkeepers with starting status in the squad.
– Ivan did very well (in the first two games), and Léo Jardim’s arrival was already scheduled. It’s a great headache – said Barbieri.
Negotiations with Ivan and Léo Jardim took place in parallel and show that Vasco’s move to have two good-level goalkeepers was deliberate. The first information about negotiation between Vasco and Ivan appeared in the last week of December. At that point, conversations with Léo Jardim were gaining momentum.
At first, the club evaluated the possibility of buying Ivan from Corinthians. The goalkeeper was on loan at Zenit and ended up coming to Rio de Janeiro on loan. Which ended up paving the way for Vasco to agree on the purchase of Léo Jardim, since Lille, the French club to which the player belonged, only accepted the definitive negotiation.
After initial contact in November, sporting director Paulo Bracks and the athlete’s manager, Rogério Braun, spoke again in the last week of 2022. As Léo Jardim became a reserve at Lille, Vasco’s project was of great interest to the player.
At the beginning of the year, Vasco decided to make a proposal for Léo, who was the unanimous name among the board, technical committee and 777 Partners. Until the goalkeeper’s arrival in Rio de Janeiro last Wednesday, there were almost three weeks of negotiation. The Brazilian club’s pre-season trip to the United States also delayed negotiations, but the player’s agent went to France to close the deal with Lille and tie up the last details.
In the midst of the process, other Brazilian clubs learned of Léo Jardim’s desire to return to the country and consulted the situation of the goalkeeper, who opted for the Vasco reconstruction project.
At Vasco, Léo Jardim will find competition to match. Starting against Portuguesa, in the debut of Barbieri’s main team, Ivan has pleased the fans and technical staff, but the trend is that the new signing also has space to compete for a vacancy.
Both Léo Jardim and Ivan have just played a few games in recent months. The goalkeeper who belongs to Corinthians and can be bought by Vasco at the end of the season played in four games for Zenit in the 2022/2023 season.
Léo played six matches for Lille this season, but it was in 2021/2022 that he lived his best moment in French football. He kept seven consecutive games without conceding a goal between rounds 24 and 30 of Ligue 1, the top division of the French championship.
At Lille, Vasco’s newest reinforcement was a starter in the French Super Cup final in 2021, with a 1-0 victory over PSG. In addition, he has participated in two editions of the Champions League for the French club and other experiences in European football, having also played for Rio Ave and Boavista, both in Portugal. The goalkeeper was revealed by Grêmio in 2013.
With the “goalkeeper problem” more than solved, Vasco continues in the market in search of strengthening other positions. Defence, midfield and wing striker are priorities.
