Manchester City are on the front page of Portuguese newspaper Record today, as Pep Guardiola’s is now expected to make a raid of Sporting CP.
According to the outlet, City are prepared to offer €70m for the Lions’ duo William Carvalho and Gelson Martins in the next few days.
Although the figures look exciting, that should still not be enough for Sporting to sell. It’s claimed the club’s president Bruno de Carvalho actually wants €90m, being €40m for William Carvalho and €50m for Gelson Martins.
Record says this is a move for City to get ahead of Barcelona and Real Madrid in the race for young talents in Europe, as the club plan to keep spending money on youngsters such as John Stones, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus.
To be fair to the newspaper, the demands they mention have been reported for a long time now.
Even with the local press expecting William to finally leave the club this summer, Sporting still want something close to his €45m release clause. In Gelson’s case, who’s younger and has a €60m clause, €50m is the reasonable price, as far as Sporting are concerned, which has been reported.
Question is: are they worth it? William has shown potential at club and national team level, but is still to be tested in a top league. He was first linked to Manchester City when Pep Guardiola’s brother Pere started representing him, and after months of speculation, this is the first time the papers mention a bid.
In Gelson’s case, it’s more like a bet. The 22-year-old has impressed earlier this season, especially with a good match against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, but saw his form drop since then. With seven goals and 13 assists, he was one of Sporting’s best players in the creative sector, but still couldn’t manage to do enough when the team needed him most.
