Memphis Depay’s arrival at Corinthians began with a simple search on a player data site. According to Tiago Maranhão, the club’s director of communication, the idea came at a time of almost despair, and not through entrepreneurs or scout reports. The report was made in the podcast Boppismo.
“THE. Corinthians He played out against Fortaleza, played well, and lost in the end. It was a long phase that Corinthians had a goal. President Augusto Melo, (Vinicius) Cascone, who today is a legal director, but at the time he was secretary general, and Pedro Silveira, until then financial director. They together made the main decisions of football with Fabinho Soldado, soccer executive. They said: ‘What do we do? The team is trying, is doing their best, but plays well and loses. We will fall. ”
In order to avoid the fall, the group dared, did not want to look at the national market and chose to innovate in the choice.
“One of them said, ‘Who can you hire?’. There’s the sponsor’s money and let’s look for an unusual name, let’s not look around, let’s look away. Let’s not think of money, let’s think about who we would bring if they could. They got on the internet, they saw the free players in the market, some names and Memphis appeared.”
The site used was Transfermarkt, a tool known for listing contracts, data and players status worldwide. There they found a contact email from a player linked to the player.
“They entered Transfermarkt and had the contact email of a businessman. Is it worth? It was dawn in Brazil, like 6h. This businessman was in Germany. Memphis. ”
However, despite the unusual contact, the answer came immediately.
“The guy answered, ‘Is it for real?’. They answered yes, they sent a photo and said they were available to speak by facetime. Corinthians I was in a hurry because the window was there. He was hired and I was there. ”
The negotiation was completed in early September last year. Memphis was announced on the 9th, and since then has become a key piece in the club’s reaction.
In 40 games, the striker scored 13 goals, gave 14 assists and led the team in winning the Paulista Championship of 2025.
