Petrachi: ‘I told Torino, Bremer is like Chiellini’

Former Torino sporting director Gianluca Petrachi looked back at the deal that brought Gleison Bremer to Turin, underlining his initial belief in the Brazilian.

The 25-year-old Brazilian centre back completed a €50m total move to Juventus yesterday, signing a five-year contract with the Granata’s inter-city rivals after weeks of uncertainty on the transfer market. The Torino fans were not particularly impressed with the deal and made their frustration clear to president Urbano Cairo.

Speaking to TMW, Petrachi first reflected on how Bremer’s move to Torino came about.

“My people passed me the material, I looked at it, evaluated him and thought about it. I saw him at the end of the 2017-18 season. 

“He impressed me very much. Then in early June I went to Brazil to see both him and Lucas Verissimo up close. I wanted to get both of them.”

He continued talking about his desire to pick up both Bremer and Verissimo.

“It seemed that Verissimo could get an EU passport. I went to Brazil to see Santos and Atletico Mineiro, where Bremer was. 

“I always wanted to see them in person again, you have to feel the player, feel him. I went to Brazil, called Cairo and told him they are both as strong as I thought.”

Petrachi revealed what Cairo’s response was to his suggestion.

“I told him ‘let’s get both of them.’ I had to sign three center-backs, and as I said, we thought Verissimo could get the passport. 

“Bremer is like Chiellini, Verissimo like Bonucci. And Bremer had great potential, physical, strength, good mentally. 

“Meanwhile, I was working on Gleison but the hard obstacle was Verissimo, who had already been playing for a year and had different, higher costs, parameters that we could not then have met.”

The former Torino sporting director looked back at his push to pick up the Brazilian defender.

“Cairo called me and I said ‘Pres, let’s sign Bremer, he’s very strong.’ I’m struck by a goal he scored in the Cup with Atletico Mineiro, and the structure, the content, we could already see his quality. 

“I went back to Italy and, because I share players with coaches, I showed the player to Mazzarri. The coach was not convinced about the boy. 

“The president pointed this out to me but I replied ‘do you trust me?’ I was convinced of Gleison’s potential, regardless we had to get him. He was a Chiellini.”

He touched on the costs of the deal to bring Bremer to Turin.

“It was good of the intermediary Bertolucci, to get us the player and reasonable figures against general skepticism. Everyone expected Verissimo, instead I signed Bremer but I wanted both. 

“Only Lucas had issues on his passport, he had an Italian wife and could become an EU player, but the paperwork took too long.”

Finally, Petrachi noted that he still keeps a close eye on South American football.

“Absolutely. South American football is my favourite, between Argentinians, Brazilians and Uruguayans you always get a star.”