Rio de Janeiro: Former Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou is the latest high-profile footballer on the radar of Brazilian club Botafogo.
Kalou's contract with Germany's Hertha BSC ends this month and this week he received a proposal to join Botafogo on an 18-month deal, according to Brazilian press reports.
The Rio de Janeiro outfit signed Japanese playmaker Keisuke Honda in February and has since made unsuccessful bids for former Manchester City star Yaya Toure and ex-Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel.
Kalou's 17-year professional career has included spells at Feyenoord, Chelsea and Lille. The 34-year-old has been capped 97 times for Cote d'Ivoire national team, scoring 28 goals.
The Ivory Coast forward was suspended by Hertha Berlin in May after posting a video where he flouted coronavirus distancing guidelines.
Kalou greeted his team-mates with handshakes, and ignored a request from a doctor to leave a room where defender Jordan Torunarigha was being tested for Covid-19.
The former Chelsea, Lille and Feyenoord forward was heavily criticised by the club and had then apologised for his conduct.
Hertha made no attempt to disguise their fury with Kalou, and stressed that measures would be taken to ensure the incident wasn’t repeated.
"Salomon Kalou has given the impression in his video that the Hertha BSC players do not take the social distancing and hygiene rules seriously on the part of the health authorities," a statement on the club's website read.
"Hertha BSC would like to state that this was the failure of a single player.
“The fact that other team members did not draw his attention to this misconduct and instead replied to the greeting by shaking hands shows that the regular references to the distance and hygiene rules must be even more intense."
The Brazilian Serie A championship is expected to begin in August, having missed its scheduled May start because of the coronavirus pandemic.
