One year ago, when the Portuguese press believed Gelson Martins could be close to leaving Sporting, Manchester City were said to be one of the main pretenders.
A few stories from local papers said the Lisbon side expected an offer from the Premier League club, always with the player’s €60m release clause being used as his price tag.
The rumours went totally cold during the season, partly because Gelson didn’t really impress like the year before. But now they’re back on, especially because Manchester City reportedly scouted the player this week.
As reported by A Bola, club officials have been to the Estádio de Alvalade to watch Sporting play Porto for the cup semifinals on Wednesday.
After a 1-0 win, Sporting still managed to eliminate Porto in a penalty shootout, and Gelson had a good performance. A Bola makes it clear that all the scouts were impressed with his display, taking home some ‘very positive notes’ about him.
There’s no information on what Manchester City’s next steps could be. This was definitely a big game for Gelson to be watched, but it would be too much to think that Guardiola would be convinced to splash €60m because of this performance.
