Last year's Brazilian champion, Flamengo is not only thinking about the first half of 2010. Therefore, the club is currently negotiating contract renewals. Vice-president of football, Marcos Braz, gave a press conference in Gávea on Tuesday (02.03) and explained what has been done to keep the squad strong.

According to him, some situations are already well underway, as the club's priority is retaining a large portion of its roster. Among the players mentioned by Braz, Toró, David, Alvaro, Maldonado, and Vinícius Pacheco have already begun talks.

Vinícius Pacheco's case is the most encouraging. He is expected to sign an extension with the club in the coming days. The player, who recently took over as a starter, has already finalized all the necessary arrangements with the club, with only the contract remaining.

"Pacheco is close to renewing. He practically just needs to sign the contract, but all the agreements have already been made. After Carnival, we started to intensify our renewal attempts. We started talking to Toró (October), Alvaro (May), David (June), Maldonado (August) and those we believe we need to renew," said the director.

Marcos Braz also took the opportunity to deny rumors that he had approached Deco, currently at Chelsea in England. Reports in the English press suggested that the Portuguese-Brazilian was being sought after by Corinthians and Flamengo.

"I would love to have Deco at Flamengo, but I was never approached about it. I have the same information you had. It's news without any basis, and it's difficult to talk about it. It's not true, but if you give me Deco's phone number, I'll call him," he joked.

The vice president of football also spoke about Flamengo's match against Universidad de Chile, in the third round of the Copa Santander Libertadores. Due to the earthquake that has left the country in a state of emergency in recent days, the expectation is that the match will be moved to another stadium. Despite this, there is no concern.

"We'll wait a little longer, out of respect for the Chileans' decision. We'll be patient so they don't think we're trying to take advantage of the situation. It's possible to move this game, as long as it also has Flamengo's authorization. And we'll accept playing somewhere else. We won't create any problems, as long as the logistics are smooth. We'll make the decision with good common sense," he added.