#3 Gelson Martins
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Much has been written of the emergence of a wave of potentially world class youngsters from Portugal recently. Their Euro 2016 squad put a few of those in the spotlight like Renato Sanches, Raphael Guerreiro, and Andre Gomes amongst others. A frighteningly good winger remains in the shadows, but not for long. Gelson Martins has deservedly got the top European clubs interested this season.
Any young winger bursting onto the scene in Portugal is compared to Cristiano Ronaldo. And so is Gelson Martins. Both have been developed at Sporting’s famous youth academy but Gelson instead is rather similar to another Sporting FC graduate, Luis Nani. Nani and Martins both have their origins in the island, Cape Verde, but besides geography, their playing style is rather alike.
Gelson is a tricky winger with incredible dribbling ability, providing accurate crosses and making inverted runs inside the box. Unlike Nani, Gelson possesses the strength to beat an opponent in a match-up of strength.
Like Mbappe, Martins has excelled for the Portugal youth teams, shining in the 2014 UEFA U-19 Championship as well as the U20 World Cup. He guided Portugal to the runners-up spot in the former tournament, grabbing a goal of the tournament contender on the way and his incredible quality was on display again at the World Cup where he scored a ‘trivela’ goal.
This season has seen Martins establish himself into the Sporting first team. As per whoscored, with a rating of 7.42 in Liga NOS, he has been Sporting’s second best player after Sebastian Coates. With three goals and six assists in 24 appearances, the winger may not be prolific but his importance to the squad is evident and he is on his way to becoming one of the finest talents in the game.
