Who Replaces Allan on Palmeiras' Right Side?

A fee this good can hide the next cost

Manchester City have signed Allan Elias on a five-year contract, and ge reported a package worth up to €40 million: €37.5 million guaranteed and €2.5 million in bonuses. The outlet says Palmeiras will receive 90 percent of the proceeds. For a 22-year-old developed into a first-team regular at the club, the transaction is a forceful endorsement of Palmeiras' academy model.

It is also the easy part of the decision audit. Price answers whether Palmeiras extracted elite value. The next two matches ask whether Abel Ferreira's squad retained the options that made Allan useful before the accounting department put a number on him. Palmeiras visit Santos in the Copa do Brasil on September 2, then travel to Botafogo in the league four days later.

The vacancy is wider than the touchline

City describe Allan as primarily a right winger who can also play in midfield, as a second striker or at full-back. Across 42 appearances in 2025-26, he scored six goals and supplied six assists. Those numbers explain part of the appeal. The positional range explains the harder part of Palmeiras' succession problem: the club is not replacing one line on a team sheet but several options within a match.

A right-sided attacker does not operate alone. The full-back's starting position, the nearest midfielder's support angle and the centre-forward's run all change according to what the receiver can do under pressure. If Allan's replacement needs the ball delivered in a different way, the same formation can become a slower attack. The ball reaches the flank, the defender sets his feet, and Palmeiras must manufacture the advantage again.

Mauricio should finish the move, not start it

Mauricio offers the strongest internal answer. AS reported seven goals in ten matches since the Club World Cup, a run that has turned his timing around the box into one of Palmeiras' most dependable sources of output. A squad with that scorer does not need to imitate Allan action for action.

It does need to separate two jobs. Mauricio can arrive between the posts, combine inside and finish moves. Asking him to begin every attack near the sideline would spend those strengths too far from goal. Palmeiras can instead give the first carry to a winger or an advancing full-back, then let Mauricio attack the space that movement opens.

The distinction is small on a lineup graphic and large on the field. Replacing six goals is a season-long arithmetic problem. Reassigning Allan's different positions is a structural problem that begins with the first possession against Santos. If Mauricio has to retreat toward the touchline simply because the previous occupant could play there, Palmeiras may solve one vacancy by weakening their hottest scorer.

The sale can be right and incomplete

The fair counterargument begins with the fee. An academy should create first-team quality and occasionally convert that quality into a transfer that finances the next cycle. Ge reported that the sale would help balance club finances after outgoing business had fallen short of expectations. Refusing €40 million because a useful player has several roles would turn development success into roster paralysis. Palmeiras also have enough attacking talent to distribute Allan's work rather than chase a replica.

That case is persuasive. It does not remove the need for a named succession plan. A versatile player often hides several small roster gaps at once. When he leaves, a manager can discover that the replacement winger needs a different full-back, the replacement midfielder needs more protection, and the bench no longer contains the one substitution capable of changing three positions.

Two away matches, two succession questions

The Copa tie offers the first useful evidence. Watch where Palmeiras' first receiver on the right starts and which teammate supplies the forward movement. If that receiver can turn, draw a second defender and release Mauricio or an overlapping runner, the club has distributed Allan's old options across the unit. If every reception returns inside or backward, the squad sheet will look fuller than the attack feels.

Botafogo then raises the speed and consequence of the examination. Palmeiras do not have to regret the sale to respect the problem it creates. €40 million is excellent business. By the end of those two away matches, Ferreira should be able to name who starts the move on the right, who finishes it and which change from the bench preserves both jobs.