Is he right? Renato slams number of foreign players at Grêmio

Is he right? Renato slams number of foreign players at Grêmio Grêmio's current squad includes a total of 11 players born outside Brazil. And coach Renato Gaúcho raised the issue again after the draw in last Sunday's (12) Gre-Nal derby. He began his comments by "lamenting" Grêmio's heavy focus on foreign players. " You come in here and there are two or three guys speaking one language. In another corner, three or four speaking another. Elsewhere, four or five... I think that's a mistake. Just because the CBF has allowed more foreign players doesn't mean you should bring them in indiscriminately ." Renato went on to discuss how foreign players adapt to Brazilian football. " You bring in a foreign player, and it's not his fault, but he needs to adapt. By the time he gets to know his teammates, five or six months have gone by. A coach has to come in here with a magic wand and solve every problem ." Grêmio has the aforementioned 11 foreign-born players, but Argentine Kannemann already holds Brazilian citizenship and does not count toward the limit. The fact is that the Tricolor has exceeded the limit of nine foreign players who can be named in matchday squads for the Brasileirão—which will drop to eight in 2027. The latest signings were Croatian Krovinovic and Cape Verdean Jovane Cabral, both of whom speak Portuguese. Colombian Enamorado and Argentine Nardoni arrived at the start of this season. The others were already in the squad. Language is still a barrier for Amuzu Grêmio attracted attention when it announced Francis Amuzu's arrival in February last year. 📸 SILVIO AVILA - AFP or licensors Born in Ghana but a Belgian national, the winger is fluent in French and English. But he still cannot communicate in Portuguese. Something that, according to Renato, does not help. " Take Amuzu, for example. How long has he been here? A year and a half, and he doesn't speak Portuguese. You have to be by his side all the time. You arrive in a country where you don't speak the language, and you need to adapt ." The nationalities of Grêmio's foreign players: Argentines 🇦🇷 Kannemann (with Brazilian citizenship) Nardoni Pavon Paraguayans 🇵🇾 Villasanti Balbuena Colombian 🇨🇴 Enamorado Peruvian 🇵🇪 Noriega Danish 🇩🇰 Braithwaite Croatian 🇭🇷 Krovinovic Belgian 🇧🇪 Amuzu Cape Verdean 🇨🇻 Jovane Cabral Can they turn things around? Renato has recorded three draws in three games in his latest spell in charge of Grêmio. The Tricolor currently sits 18th in the Brasileirão with 31 points. Rival Inter, also in the relegation zone, has 32. Corinthians (32) and Mirassol (33) are the other teams closest to them. Grêmio will play again next Sunday (18), hosting sixth-placed Cruzeiro at the Arena. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.