Some of the latest stories from Portugal reporting Liverpool’s chase for Sporting winger Gelson Martins said the Reds had offered €50m, something very close to his €60m release clause.
There was an insinuation that a few million more could be enough to take the player, and with Liverpool being the only club to offer that much money, there wasn’t much competition around.
But earlier this month, Record revealed Gelson Martins’ contract with Sporting includes a clause which says the club can pay him €1.5m and change his release clause to €100m.
This information is now again reported by the same source, with them saying Sporting have no intention to sell the player, and in case someone offers something close to his release clause, they will use this mechanism to keep him at the club.
In reality it’s got to be doubtful Sporting would refuse all that money, especially with recent reports saying the club are already preparing a substitute for him.
Liverpool’s €50m offer sounded more than enough for the 22 year old, and that it wasn’t accepted brought doubt on the veracity of the claims. It’s possible Jurgen Klopp’s side were being used as part of some Sporting PR, informing fans the club had refused a huge offer from Liverpool as a show of strength.
There appears no genuine battle to sign Gelson right now, so Sporting seem to be taking the opportunity to flex their muscles.
