The time is rapidly approaching, for a striker on the radars of West Ham United, Newcastle, Everton and Nottingham Forest, to decide between his heart or his head.
Does he stay loyal to the club who offered him a clean slate and a fresh start following that short-lived, ill-fated spell in Russian football?
Every Premier League Team’s MOST Humiliating Defeat
Or is the allure of England simply impossible to ignore, Yuri Alberto flocking to the Premier League like a moth to a flame?
TBR understands that Newcastle, Everton and Nottingham Forest like the Brazil international. Long-time admirers West Ham remain hot on Yuri Alberto’s heels too, a year-and-a-half after Corinthians confirmed they had turned down a £14 million bid from the London Stadium outfit.
Yuri Alberto of Corinthians looks on during the match between Corinthians and Criciuma at Neo Quimica Arena on July 16, 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Photo by Ricardo Moreira/Getty Images
Yuri Alberto torn on potential West Ham or Newcastle transfer
According to reports, £17 million could be enough to secure Alberto’s services at the start of 2025.
But, speaking ahead of Sunday night’s final day trip to Gremio, the former Zenit St Petersburg and Internacional frontman sounds like a man torn between two choices.
“I really want to [stay at Corinthians],” Yuri Alberto muses. “But I also have a dream of playing in Europe, in the Premier League.”
When asked to put a number on his chances of a January exit, meanwhile, he settled on 50/50.
50 per cent he leaves, 50 per cent he stays.
“I’m very happy here,” Alberto adds. “Even more so because I’ve found my best form. I was even joking with the guys at the training centre before the game against Bahia. I said; ‘Man, this is the last training camp here at home, at the hotel’.
“It’s very rare for this to happen, and it’s the first time that I don’t want the year to end! I don’t want it to end because, at the moment, I’m living, I’m very happy.
“On the field, things are happening with enormous naturalness. I [feel] light, doing my things with great ease. I’m enjoying each day as if it were my last.”
Corinthians president promises Brazil star will not be leaving
Yuri Alberto has now scored 30 goals while providing seven assists in 56 appearances across the 2024 campaign.
Ten of those have come in his last eight games in Brazil’s Serie A. Yuri Alberto, capped once by Brazil but surely in contention for another, has almost single-handedly dragged Corinthians out of the relegation zone and up to the dizzying heights of seventh place.
Corinthians president Augusto Melo promised last week that Yuri Alberto will not be leaving Corinthians in January. Promises such as these are easier said than done, however.
Should their free-scoring 23-year-old decide to strike while his reputation is at it’s hottest, should West Ham, Newcastle or any of his other Premier League suitors put their money where their mouth is, the chances of a departure could rapidly tip well beyond the 50 per cent mark.
At Everton, Beto and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have scored only three league goals between them in 2024/25.
According to The Telegraph, meanwhile, West Ham striker Michail Antonio suffered a suspected broken leg in a road traffic accident on Saturday. The Hammers face Wolves on Monday night with both Julen Lopetegui and Gary O’Neil fighting for their jobs.
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