Atletico swoops for Portugal’s Martins
PORTUGAL winger Gelson Martins signed for Atletico Madrid yesterday as a free agent on a six-year deal after leaving troubled Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon.
“We have been watching him over the last year and we saw him in the Europa League,” Atletico manager Diego Simeone told reporters yesterday in Singapore, where his team is taking part in the preseason International Champions Cup.
“He will bring us added strength on the right hand side of the attack and can even play in an attacking trio.”
Martins rescinded his contract with Sporting last month, one of nine players to quit the Lisbon club after an attack in May on a training camp by fans in which Dutch forward Bas Dost was injured and the dressing room was vandalized.
The incidents came at the end of a tumultuous campaign for Sporting which was third in the Primeira Liga and reached the Europa League quarterfinals where it lost 1-2 on aggregate to eventual winner Atletico. Martins played in both legs.
“Our club has reached an agreement with Gelson Martins, making him a new Atletico player,” said a statement from last season’s La Liga runnerup. “The Portuguese attacker, who arrives as a free agent, has signed for six seasons.”
Simeone added: “We are happy with his arrival and we will try to get him involved as soon as possible to see where he can position himself within the team.”
The 23-year-old has been capped 19 times for Portugal and was part of its squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, appearing as a substitute in the 1-0 win over Morocco.
Martins is Atletico’s fifth close-season signing after Thomas Lemar from AS Monaco, Rodri (Villarreal), Jonny Castro (Celta Vigo) and Antonio Adan (Real Betis).
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich center-back Jerome Boateng could join Paris Saint-Germain providing the price is right, the German giant’s chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge suggested yesterday.
“There is no direct contact between the clubs at the moment, but there is contact between the agents, Jerome has two,” Rummenigge said in Philadelphia on Bayern’s tour of the United States for the ICC.
“Now, we have to wait and see if we can find a base at the end of the day to get together and need to find a compensation that is acceptable to both sides,” Rummenigge added.
PSG’s German coach Thomas Tuchel reportedly met Boateng before the World Cup in May, according to Sport Bild.
However, Bayern chairman Uli Hoeness said no formal approach has yet been made.
Boateng, a 2014 World Cup winner with Germany, is currently valued at 45.5 million euros (US$53.2 million).
He had a poor World Cup campaign after being sent off for two yellow cards in the last-gasp 2-1 win over Sweden and was suspended for the shock 0-2 loss to South Korea, which confirmed Germany’s exit after the group stages.