From Portugal: Arsenal and Tottenham to fight for free agent - Sport Witness
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Since Gelson Martins started the process to rescind his contract with Sporting, several media outlets linked him to a Benfica move. It’s traditional that the Lisbon rivals try to snap up players from each other, and it would be no different during this chaos lived at Alvalade.
Some outlets are still claiming that the winger is close to joining the Eagles, but today, newspaper Jornal de Notícias has some different claims about his future.
They say that despite Benfica’s approach, the negotiations didn’t develop, as Gelson’s agent Ulisses Santos is actually working to take the winger to England.
Arsenal, who recently made two €30m offers for the player, would be one of the most interested sides. And in the race with the Gunners, are their North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
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Jornal de Notícias claims that Ulisses Santos’ intention would be to make an auction for the player, trying to find the ‘best deal possible’.
Newspaper Record also has some updates on Sporting’s efforts to hold the player. Gelson Martins’ contract had a clause that could increase his release clause from €60m to €100m, as long as the club paid him a certain compensation and gave him a pay raise.
Record claims that Sporting activated that clause in the past few days, but that wasn’t enough to convince Gelson, who continued with his decision to leave the club.
Tottenham and Arsenal will be watching developments, but it was announced on Wednesday that Bruno de Carvalho has been suspended as president of Sporting, which will likely have some impact on things.