A year ago, Sporting were in a mess, and it’s all led to a situation which sees the club wanting Arsenal to pursue an Atletico Madrid player.
The Lisbon club were stumbling from crisis to crisis under then president Bruno de Carvalho and it all culminated in an attack on players at the club’s training ground.
That led to a series of players rescinding their contracts. Some returned, such as Bruno Fernandes and Bas Dost, but some signed for new clubs, including Rui Patricio and Gelson Martins.
The goalkeeper went to Wolves, who eventually agreed a deal with Sporting, and Gelson went to Atletico who are currently on course for a FIFA battle over the transfer fee they must pay.
Arsenal were linked with Gelson during the winter market, but he instead moved to AS Monaco on loan.
Sunday’s edition of A Bola explains that Unai Emery’s side haven’t lost their interest in the player, and could return in the summer window. It’s hoped that Arsenal interest would help Sporting leverage some power over Atletico and get a transfer fee from them.
The Lisbon club want ‘Never less than €15m’, which seems a very reasonable amount for Atletico to pay, especially if they could then make a little profit by selling the player to 
Arsenal this summer.
A transfer looks likely in the next window, after Gelson failed to settle at Atletico, and he’s doing pretty well at Monaco. In seven Ligue 1 matches, the winger has three goals and one assist.
Sporting are keen for Emery to continue the pursuit on behalf of Arsenal, as they feel it’s a way to sort all this out without going through the whole FIFA process.
