Gelson Martins. A transfer hype favourite of the Portuguese media.
Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid were all said to want the winger during his first professional year, but despite the constant transfer headlines, the player didn’t leave Lisbon, and didn’t even seem to have a real offer to do so.
But there are still a few rumours here and there, and some people who feed it, which is the case of Pedro Alves when speaking to O Jogo today.
The former Sporting player says he’s a big fan of Gelson, and insists he’s got the potential to move on.
“He’s had a fantastic evolution, he’s a player to go to a Real Madrid, a Barcelona or a Chelsea, but they will have to pay a lot for him,” Alves told O Jogo.
These quotes are now obviously making a couple of headlines in Portugal, although Chelsea haven’t been mentioned in the Gelson Martins stories for a while.
The last time Chelsea were said to be interested in the player was exactly one year ago, when several teams would be in the race but were all stopped by the player’s €60m release clause.
Now with five goals and five assists this season, the 22-year-old is still showing some great potential for Sporting, and it would be pretty reasonable to see him sold to a Premier League side soon. But for €60m? That’s still unlikely.
