Man United are reportedly keen on signing Sporting Clube de Portugal winger Gelson Martins, particularly after his impressive Champions League display earlier this month.
The 21-year-old produced an impressive performance against Real Madrid in Europe’s premier competition in a 2-1 defeat at the Bernabeu, and in turn it has led to interest from the two biggest clubs in European football.
According to Record, his efforts at the Bernabeu have attracted the interest of both Jose Mourinho and Zinedine Zidane, and the two coaches will now fight it out to land the talented youngster next year.
Martins is highly valued by Sporting boss Jorge Jesus and is another product of the club’s youth system. Further, he featured heavily last season in making 29 league appearances, and has already scored twice and provided five assists in six Liga NOS outings this year.
In turn, he is proving that the interest is warranted, and that is also the reason why Record report that Sporting are looking to renew his contract which would increase his release clause, which currently stands at €60m, up to €80m to further deter their European rivals from making an offer.
His current deal runs until 2021, and so if either United or Real have genuine ambitions of signing the highly-rated starlet, then they will have to dig deep into their pockets to make it happen and will be well advised to move sooner rather than later.