How far will it go? According to the Brazilian media O Globo, Botafogo sent a letter to OL on July 18 to claim the reimbursement of 410 million Brazilian reals, or around 65 million euros, for having helped the Lyon club to overcome the financial crisis and avoid relegation.
According to the mail to which the Brazilian media had access, this sum corresponds to transactions carried out between July 2024 and March 2025: those of Luiz Henrique, transferred to Zenit to Russia, of Igor Jesus and Jair, currently in Nottingham Forest. Botafogo says that these players were intended for OL, but that the club, subject to constraints from the DNCG, could not register these transfers.
The Luiz Henrique case
“Botafogo was forced to negotiate with third parties certain players who were going to be transferred to OL, such as Luiz Henrique, Igor and Jair, on unfavorable conditions, by accepting transfer compensation significantly lower than the market value of these players”, specifies the club in the notification. Which is a little curious when you know that Luiz Henrique, for example, was finally transferred for 33 million euros to Zenit.
The Eagle family is tearing apart
In a statement this time published by Botafogo on the night of Monday to Tuesday, the Brazilian club, which John Textor tries to get out of the Eagle galaxy to have his hands free, persists and signs by continuing to play against OL from where he was landed in early July.
“Botafogo has always valued collaboration in the Eagle Football ecosystem and maintains the desire that this partnership continues, for the benefit of all the clubs that make up the group. Unfortunately, the measures adopted by the French regulatory authorities have compromised the proper functioning of this integration, resulting in the interruption of the cash centralization agreements, however beneficial for all parties. In this context, it has become necessary to formalize, by legal means, that the current financial imbalance between entities justifies the reimbursement to SAF Botafogo of the sums previously borrowed ”.
