Arsenal
Arsenal & Liverpool Battling To Sign £52m-Rated Attacker
Arsenal and Liverpool face a battle with AC Milan over the signing of Sporting Lisbon’s £52m-rated attacker Gelson Martins this summer
The summer transfer window is open and managers are working hard on their transfer targets so we’ll bring you all the latest gossip from around the globe. Today, the race for Gelson Martins hots-up….
Arsenal and Liverpool face a battle with AC Milan over the free transfer signing of Sporting Lisbon’s £52m-rated attacker Gelson Martins this summer, according to reports in Italy via TeamTalk.
Martins has been with Sporting his entire career having come through their youth system and has developed in to one of the best young talents in Portuguese football in recent years. The 23-year-old was a stand-out performer for Sporting last season having provided 13 goals and 13 assists to earn a place in Portugal’s World Cup squad.
However, his future is in serious doubt as Martins is looking to leave Sporting following a turbulent campaign and the attacker is one of several players who’ve cancelled their contracts after being attacked by angry fans at the clubs training ground last month.
The complex situation has alerted clubs here in the Premier League as TeamTalk claim Arsenal and Liverpool have expressed their interest in bringing Martins to England this summer.
New Arsenal boss Unai Emery is keen to revamp the squad he inherited from Arsene Wenger and Martins would provide the north Londoners with some genuine width in attack – which is something they’ve lacked at times in recent years.
Liverpool are also in the market for attacking reinforcements as Jurgen Klopp is yet to sign a replacement for Philippe Coutinho following his move to Barcelona in January and the Merseysiders may be eyeing Martins after seeing a proposed deal for Nabil Fekir fall through.
The report says Arsenal saw a £26m bid rejected earlier this month with Sporting insisting they wanted the full value of his £52m release clause, and that rejection forced Martins to cancel his contract last week and the Portuguese international is now set to be available on a free transfer.
However, understandably other top clubs have also been alerted to Martins situation and TeamTalk are citing a report from Corriere Dello Sport that claims AC Milan are ready to battle Arsenal and Liverpool for his signature.
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We’ll have to wait and see how things develop over the coming weeks as no move is expected while Martins represents Portugal in Russia but he’d obviously be an excellent signing if Arsenal or Liverpool could snap him up on a free transfer.
