By Ricardo Setyon
July 15 – With the Brazilian National League now a quarter way into its season, two clubs and one man have surprised everyone. Recife from the north east of the country, and Ponta Prete from Campinas, 120km from Sao Paulo, are upsetting the accepted club hierarchy with a series of unexpected results.
And leading the charge has been 31 year old attacking midfielder Renato Cajá with a series of brilliant goals that have put him amongst the top strikers in the league.
Cajá has been chosen the best player of the round three weeks in a row, and has almost every weekend been named in the Brasileirao best eleven.
His performances have not gone unnoticed internationally and news came that Cajá had signed for Sharjah FC in the Emirates, breaking his contract with Ponte Prete.
The plot thickened when after his last match for Ponte Prete this weekend, club staff announced that for $2 million (the same amount as the Sharjah deal), Cajá had been sold to to Al Ittihad, also in the UAE.
As Cajá boarded a plane to Dubai, Ponte Preta published on their website, that he was heading to the Emirates to play for Sharjah FC.
So far no one has explained how he can have signed for two teams though Ponte Preta have said Sharjah FC will pay the fine for Cajá breaking his contract.
Which club he is actually going to seems no clearer in Dubai, where the local media were informed that he will play for Al Ittihad.
Cajá’s agents say that Al Ittihad will buy out his contract from Ponte Preta, though at the same time Sharjah FC confirmed the player belonged to them.
The two clubs are close together and less than half an hour from Dubai. Who Cajá will actually be joining is uncertain. The only certainty is that he is in the country.
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