Europe’s top clubs all sat up and keenly observed a seemingly unknown youngster, Gelson Martin, during Sporting Lisbon’s match against Real Madrid in the Champions League. The Los Blancos, reportedly, are interested themselves in signing the 21-year-old.
Manchester United, who broke the transfer fee record this summer, are also said to be keeping tabs on the Lisbon sensation. According to Portuguese daily, Record, the Los Blancos and the Red Devils are both tracking the progression of the 21-year-old by a match-to-match basis.
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Gelson Martins had an incredible start to the season featuring in all eight of Sporting Lisbon’s fixtures. Two goals and five assists is an impressive statistic for a player who mainly operates from the flanks. There is a groundswell of opinion that Martins will be called up for the Portugal senior national team sooner than later.
Portugal boss Jorge Jesus recently hailed the young forward’s performances and commented, “there’s nobody like him.”
Sporting Lisbon are currently second in the Primeira League behind only Benfica winning 5 of their 6 fixtures.The side based in Lisbon are, however, aware of the interest from the big clubs and have no plans to sell the winger soon. Martins has a contract that ties him to the Estadio Jose Alvalade till at least 2021 with a €60 million release clause but there are rumours that the club are preparing a new lucrative offer for the youngster.
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Champions League holders Real Madrid have earlier tried to sign the Portuguese wonder-kid in 2014 on a loan deal with an option to buy only to be snubbed by Sporting. While Madrid's idea was to sign him as a player for the Castilla side, they'd be prepared to sign him now and draft him straight into the first-team.
Manchester United, West Ham, Manchester City and more were all said to be rumoured to sign the youngster but given Real Madrid's concrete interest in him, it's unlikely that other offers will be considered. Jose Mourinho can put up a convincing argument if needed but the move remains to be in the favour of the Spanish giants.
