It’s almost been two months since Sporting’s defeat to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, when winger Gelson Martins had a great performance and attracted much attention to himself.
And despite all the football we’ve all been watching during since then, this game is still the base for all the rumours surrounding the youngster. Including a new one from A Bola this week, with the newspaper claiming that many big clubs are following the player.
Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona. That’s not a bad list, if the interest was concrete.
But things are not so simple. Despite claiming the chase, the only information that A Bola has on these clubs is that they’ve watched Gelson at least once.
They don’t make it clear on how they know these clubs have been watching Gelson. European sides scout lots of Portuguese league games every week, and in Sporting’s case, there are many starlets who deserve attention.
Clubs like Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barça are said to be long-time admirers.
Specifically talking about United, A Bola claims that despite the many scouting reports, the final word belongs to the manager, who already knows the 21-year-old very well.
Gelson Martins has a €60m release clause, which is expected to be raised to €80m after his contract renewal is signed. He’s the typical Sporting player who won’t leave for much less than that, so if any of this interest is real, paying the clause before the extension could end up saving some money.
However, we’d find that unlikely.
