Flamengo Makes Counteroffer to Erick Pulgar for Extension Through 2025, Awaits Chilean's Response

Flamengo has already made its move. The Rio de Janeiro club has put a counteroffer on the table for Erick Pulgar to extend his contract, which currently runs through December 2025, and now everything hinges on how the Chilean responds.

The news was reported by journalist Vene Casagrande, who detailed that club management has already sent its proposal and is waiting to hear back from the Antofagasta native. What's notable is that Pulgar hasn't hidden his intentions: he wants to stay in Rio de Janeiro, which makes things a lot easier for a club that needed to sort out his contract situation as soon as possible.

But the story doesn't end there. The newspaper O Globo reported that Pulgar's renewal isn't an isolated case among Mengão's priorities. Alongside him is right back Danilo, another player the club wants to lock down as quickly as possible. Both cases have reportedly become the number one priority for the club's sporting department.

So what about the rest of the squad? Here's the interesting part: to focus efforts on those two renewals, Flamengo has apparently decided to "freeze" talks with other important names on the team. That includes Pedro, Leo Pereira, Leo Ortiz, Agustin Rossi and Gonzalo Plata, all of whom had ongoing discussions that are now on pause while the Pulgar and Danilo situations get settled.

There's another detail that adds context to this whole story. It recently emerged that NEOM SC, of the Saudi league, had backed off its interest in signing Pulgar. That wasn't a minor rumor: the Chilean has a release clause of roughly $4,000,000, a figure that's easily paid in the Saudi market. With that interest cooling off, Flamengo faces less pressure and gains more room to negotiate calmly.

Pulgar arrived at Flamengo as a piece brought in to provide balance in midfield, and over the months he earned a spot of trust within the setup. The fact that the club considers him a renewal priority, on the same level as a player with Danilo's track record, says a lot about how highly he's regarded internally.

Now the ball is in the Chilean's court. If he accepts the terms of the counteroffer, Flamengo would lock down continuity in a key position and could then, only then, get back to the pending talks with the rest of the squad.