Question of votes. Precisely, an electoral defeat was what prevented Jorge Jesus, now Flamengo's coach, from becoming the owner of the FC Barcelona bench. According to Carlos Padrao, an exporter with a long history in Portugal (from 76 to 96 passing through Sporting, Porto and other groups) and a personal friend of Jorge Jesus, on the TSF television network, the coach had a pre-contract with a candidate for the last elections for the Barcelona presidency that did not turn out to be the winner. “About Barcelona I know that there was a candidate for president who contacted Jorge and there was an agreement but he lost the last elections. Now, I don't know if there are any contacts,” he says.
In addition, Padrao endorsed his decision to stay at Flamengo and believes he is opting for the Brazilian national team bench. “I spoke to him a week ago. I sent him a congratulatory message for staying at Flamengo. Afterwards, we talked for an hour. The only thing that I can tell you is my opinion. No one speaks or makes decisions on Jorge's behalf. All I do is give him my opinion. Now he is in one of the biggest clubs in the world, he has 30 or 40 million followers. It didn't make sense. He is prepared to train the Brazilian team. Being a coach of Brazil and being the first foreigner in office is better than training Real Madrid, Barcelona, Benfica or Porto, “he added.
The goalkeeper did not reveal who was the candidate who had the pre-contract with Jorge Jesus in 2015 but, excluding the current president Josep María Bartomeu, he could have signed with Joan Laporta, Agustí Benedito or Toni Freixa.
After a long experience on the bench in Portugal, from his debut with the Amora in '89 until his last experience with Sporting in 2018, Jorge Jesus lives his second experience outside with Flamengo, where he arrived in 2019 and has a contract until 2021. The one from Amadora is making history with the Rubinegros by winning the Brazilian championship, the Copa Libertadores and the Recopa Sudamericana in two seasons.