The father of the number 10 of the black and white team from the beach spoke about projects related to the infrastructure of the São Paulo club
On Monday (9/6), Santos inaugurated the new structure of the Rei Pelé training center, which will be used by the youth teams and women’s soccer. The works were done in partnership with NR Sports, a company owned by Neymar’s family, and other brands, in an estimated investment of more than R$8 million.
The event also announced the construction of the Vila Praia Grande training center, which has a delivery deadline of approximately one year, at no cost to Santos, as well as the construction of the new structures. In addition, ‘Neymar Sr.’ and Marcelo Teixeira spoke about the possibility of two stadiums for Peixe. “We are thinking about the new training center. It has to be done immediately so that we can deliver the base structure. The Santos base in this project here and a new training center for Santos in a year. These are proposals that we are still evaluating. We need to be sure of what will happen. Marcelo (Teixeira) is in charge of this. The stadium will be built, whether in Santos, Praia Grande, Baixada Santista, but it will be here. Santos will get a free arena,” said Neymar’s father.
The new structure at the Rei Pelé training center was named “Edifício Léo Bastos”, in honor of the idol and current youth coordinator Leonardo Lourenço Bastos. The works were completed in less than 60 days and expanded the space, going from 500 m² to 1,100 m². The idea is that the training center built in Praia Grande, once it is ready, will be used only by the men’s professional soccer team, while the Rei Pelé training center will be used exclusively by the youth and women’s teams.
“Zero cost for Santos, just like the youth training center and the Sereias da Vila training center. The Vila Praia Grande training center will be zero cost. The idea is to change the closed-off look of the training center. We will set up in Praia Grande, on the Peralta Group’s land. An area of 90,000 m², twice what we have here, even a little more. We will build at no cost to the club. We will have a new building concept for the training center so that the athletes can enjoy nature, with a more harmonious and environmentally friendly space. Santos will not invest. All investment will be in the private partnership between the Neymar group and the Peralta Group,” said Altamiro Bezerra, CFO of NR Sports, who continued:
“We will exchange funds to pay for (the stadium). And we will develop an arena with 25,000 seats in Praia Grande. To have more options. Santos will exchange funds between Santos, in the remodeling of Vila Belmiro, and the arena in Praia Grande. How will it pay this bill? How will it build it? We need to build all the equipment to exploit it with entertainment, events, shows, shopping”. “The partnership with WTorre is in effect. We can have options in the region while keeping Vila active, modern, with capacity and infrastructure that it does not have today. And we can have the infrastructure in Praia Grande as an extension of the events themselves.
When there is a game in Vila Belmiro, there can be shows and events in Praia Grande and vice versa. It is essential for Santos, which currently only has Vila Belmiro for professional, youth and women’s teams, to have options in the city and in Baixada Santista”, concluded Marcelo Teixeira. On the field, Santos is going through a difficult time and is in 18th place in the Brazilian Championship, with only eight points won in 11 rounds. Peixe returns to the field this Thursday, when they face Fortaleza, at 7:30 pm (Brasília time), at Arena Castelão, in Fortaleza (CE).
