Gelson Martins has impressed Man United manager
Real Madrid travel to Lisbon to face Sporting in the Champions League on Tuesday. That means Gelson Martins will be thrown back into the spotlight.
Sporting’s latest next-big-thing impressed in the first match between the two sides at the Bernabeu. That performance upped the player’s profile hugely, and it’s what is to ‘blame’ for all the transfer reports of recent months.
Manchester United have been one of the teams most linked by the Portuguese press, and it mostly dates back to that match, the feeling being that if Martins can do it at the Bernabeu then he can do it anywhere.
With Jose Mourinho being Portuguese, and Manchester United scouting Sporting regularly, as they have done for some years, the links all neatly fell into place.
Looking ahead to the Real Madrid match, Spanish newspaper AS say Manchester United are keen on Gelson Martins, and claim Jose Mourinho has been trying to ‘seduce’ the Sporting player for months.
Madrid are also said to be interested, and AS point out they tried to sign Gelson Martins for their Castilla team a couple of years ago, and since then have observed him closely.
Another good performance against Real Madrid and the Gelson Martins rumours will go into the transfer stratosphere. Sporting would also be given further hope that they’d get close to the player’s €60m clause when he does come to leave.
Despite having such a clause, Sporting have been paying Gelson Martins €125k a year, but are working on a new contract which would see that amount rise. The Portuguese club are looking towards a €80m clause, which would see the 21 year old pushed higher than most of the other top talents in Portugal.
Primarily a right winger, Mourinho would surely only be seriously interested if he plans to sell at least one of his squad.
Involved in a car accident at the weekend, Gelson Martins was uninjured and is expected to be fit for the Tuesday match.
