Guangzhou Evergrande playmaker Goulart set for Brazil return

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Guangzhou Evergrande's Brazilian midfielder Ricardo Goulart has told the club he wants to return to his homeland in a bid to play at next year's World Cup.

Goulart, who is contracted to the Chinese Super League side until January 2020, said his representatives were in talks to "resolve the matter the best way possible".

"I want to play in Europe and I think it will be difficult to go there directly from China," the 26-year-old told Globo Esporte.

"I also want to play again for the national team so I think the first step I need to take is to go back to Brazil. The club [Guangzhou] knows about it. We have to be patient and negotiate properly. I've got new projects and challenges for 2018."

Nine-time Brazilian Serie A champions Palmeiras are favorites to sign Goulart due to his friendship with the club's football director, Alexandre Mattos.

Mattos was in charge of the football department at Cruzeiro when Goulart played at the Belo Horizonte club in 2013 and 2014, and the pair have remained close since.

"We are good friends and it helps that everything at Palmeiras has to go through him," Goulart said.

Goulart, whose solitary Brazil cap came in 2014, has scored 78 goals in 123 matches for Evergrande since joining the club from Cruzeiro for 18 million euros in January 2015.