Santos president Luis Alvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro has confirmed the club are ready to sell Ganso, but only for his buy-out clause of over £40million.
Brazilians want big money for midfielder
Santos president Luis Alvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro has confirmed the club are ready to sell Ganso, but only for his buy-out clause of over £40million.
Ganso has fallen out with the club, and rivals Internacional have emerged as the favourites to sign him after his agent stated that he was looking to leave.
European giants such as Arsenal have been strongly linked too, and Ribeiro says he can leave - but only for his buy-out.
"Bring the offers, but we won't accept anything less than his buy-out fee," he told
Globo Esporte.
"The player's will always has to come first. It's pointless to keep an unhappy player. I always respect the player's will. I did that regarding Wesley, Andre, Jonathan, but Santos' rights have to be respected, as per the contracts that were signed."
Ganso, currently with Brazil's Olympic squad, had been criticised by sections of his own support, but Ribeiro feels he just needs to get stronger.
"A large part of the fanbase isn't happy with his performances. I've talked with Muricy Ramalho [team's manager] about this," he said.
"He believes there is a physical problem. Ganso had a surgery and isn't playing on a regular basis, so has to do muscle strengthening. Sooner or later he'll be playing football again. I don't know if it will be in a month or two."
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And if no offers are forthcoming, Ribeiro insists that the young midfielder will continue playing for them.
"The concrete fact is that he has a contract and a buy-out fee," he continued.
"If he doesn't cancel his contract, he has to play. And if he doesn't play well, he'll be benched.
"And if he's benched, he'll never leave, he'll have to stay until 2015 [when his contract expires]."
