De la Cruz appears in a video wearing a Flamengo shirt and angers the board of directors, who fear retaliation from River Flamingo

Rio – Flamengo promotion for 2024 Nicolas de la Cruz, 26, had a video in the red and black jersey leaked on social media. The situation angered Rio, which forced River Plate, which had not yet been informed of the payment of the fine, to disrupt operations and further delay the completion of the transfer bureaucracy. The information comes from journalist Venê Casagrande.

But the situation will not change the purchase of Flamengo, as the Rio club will pay a fine of 16 million dollars (about 78 million Brazilian reals) to sign Nicolas de la Cruz. River Plate do not have the ability to cancel the transfer and the Uruguayan wants to play for Rio.

“I'm leaving in the best year of my career. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life. Personally I needed a change of scenery, to change the meaning of what I was doing a little bit,” De La said. Cruz in an interview with the Argentine network ESPN after bidding farewell to River in the 2-0 win over Rosario Central in the Argentine Champions Cup.

The Uruguayan is expected to return to Flamengo on the eighth of this month, to start the pre-season. The team will start its first match in Carioca on January 17 and then travel to the United States where the second part of preparations will take place in Orlando. De la Cruz took to the field 212 times wearing a River Plate shirt and scored 36 goals. During this period, he won the Libertadores Championship, the Recopa Sol Americana Championship, and the Argentine Championship.