Even after the talks, Fluminense maintains its hopes for signing Hulk and has resumed dialogue with Atlético-MG. At the beginning of the week, the Rio club had refused one of the Minas Gerais demands for the release of the 39-year-old striker, but returned to talks, moving forward with negotiations.
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Galo had proposed paying a fine — with an amount that would still be discussed — if the tricolor wanted to use Hulk in games against the Minas Gerais club during the 2026 season; he also put on the table the permission to hold a farewell game when the player decided to retire. The tricolor did not oppose these two requests.
However, the tricolor did not accept the third request, which would involve a percentage of base players at the Minas Gerais club. As a result, the conversations, which had been progressing in recent days, went backwards, this information was initially given by ge and confirmed by the GLOBO report.
The striker has a contract with Galo until the end of 2026, with an extension clause for another year. The player, however, felt devalued by the sporting project presented by the Minas Gerais club for renewal and thinks that it will not be used as he would like by the current coach, Jorge Sampaoli. At the same time, his staff spoke to other clubs and saw that Fluminense was the most interested in signing him. Atlético, at first, demanded payment of the termination fine of R$60 million to release the athlete.
In an outburst on social media, Hulk guaranteed that he would fulfill his contract until the end, but that he would not exercise the renewal clause. Subsequently, Atlético began talking directly to Fluminense to try an alternative — which would have caught the player and his staff by surprise. So far, however, the talks have not yet resulted in an agreement.
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At the moment, Hulk was not directly involved in the negotiations, which were between the two clubs. The player continues to train normally for Atlético-MG, with part of the squad focused on the start of the Brazilian Championship. He was not listed for the first two games of the state championship, as were other names on the main squad. The club has been using young people from the base. Not even coach Jorge Sampaoli was on the sidelines of the field.
The team drew 1-1 with Betim and with North, this Wednesday, by the same score.
