Diego Tardelli's Transfer Decision Could Decide Brazil Future

If 2014 picked redemption as a theme, then Diego Tardelli is a contender for poster boy. After a successful return to Atletico Mineiro following an unhappy stint in Russia and the Middle East, Tardelli went on to help the club lift the Copa Libertadores in 2013.

But it is in the last 12 months where the versatile front man has arguably had the most to celebrate.

Overlooked by Luiz Felipe Scolari for the World Cup, Tardelli has forced himself into Dunga’s plans in the second half of the year.

Not only that, he has proven himself to be a key piece of the puzzle. It would seem that, with 2015 beckoning, things on the international stage can only get bigger and better for the forward.

Which makes the transfer news coming out of Belo Horizonte all the more baffling. Tardelli is being linked with a move to Chinese outfit Shandong Luneng Taishan, and the player himself appears willing to make the move east, as reported by O Tempo (link in Portuguese).

The offer on the table must be one to make the eyes boggle, and from a purely financial aspect perhaps the move makes sense. According to the O Tempo story, Tardelli’s salary at Shandong is likely to be around the R$1 million a month mark.

The player is by no means a pauper playing in Brazil, and following stints in Russia and Qatar, it could be assumed he has already established a substantial nest egg.

But is there not something greater at stake here? Something of greater importance than the number of zeroes on a cheque or a sky-rocketing bank account?

Atletico Mineiro director Eduardo Maluf has confirmed that, while the offer is certainly attractive for the player, it is by no means acceptable for the club, an offer believed to be in the region of R$30 million, as reported by FutNet (link in Portuguese). For the time being, Atletico are standing their ground.

For the Minas giants, it is familiar ground with a player who forced their hand three years previously for Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala.

After failing to find the back of the net and a spell at Al-Gharafa in Qatar, Tardelli’s success back in his homeland put him back on the international radar.

Before the second half of this year, his time in a Selecao shirt had not been drenched in success. Indeed, when Dunga named the Atletico forward in his first post-World Cup squad, the reaction from the public was lukewarm at best.

This was a player seen as good, nothing more. Functional but nothing special or to be written home about; Tardelli’s lack of craque status meant he was considered an afterthought.

But he has shown just how effective afterthoughts can be. Brazil’s focal point remains Neymar, but he cannot carry 10 men on his slim shoulders alone.

When it comes to running the line and working a defence ragged, Tardelli appeared a perfect foil, not just for Neymar but also for the likes of Oscar, Everton Ribeiro and Willian, breaking deep from midfield.

He has found a calling at international level. Admittedly, his position is under threat from the highly rated Roberto Firmino—and the Hoffenheim forward’s bullet of a strike to win the final friendly of the year against Austria was one to remember—but a move to China would almost certainly hand the initiative to the Europe-based player.

At 29 years old, this is a crucial move for Tardelli. He should be approaching, if he has not already reached, the peak of his powers.

Does he really want to grab the money and run? Maybe he feels the offer is too good, financially, to turn down, and perhaps he has a point.

But at the very moment he is not only being recognized, but accepted, as a part of Dunga’s Brazil 2.0, it would be a damning indictment of the player’s priorities were he to risk ceding his international career for sacks of cash.