Gelson on a free would be a massive coup.

He reminds me a little of Walcott. The way he runs, his push and run dribble style.

He's very powerful, very similar to a more technical Yannick Bolasie. It's a no brainer on a free really.

Ray wrote:

He reminds me a little of Walcott. The way he runs, his push and run dribble style.

He's a much better dribbler and way more technically gifted.

Meh, not terribly excited by him.

Don't think he's what you need as a winger to get the most out of Ozil or Ramsey.

I have no clue what Gelson Martins is like on club level, but you have to think a free 23 year old Portuguese who's a regular for his national team is a pretty good deal. At worst he's squad filling and then we'll sell him for £15-20 million in a year or two.

Hmm dunno, it was this sort of bargain hunting that cost Wenger.

His buyout clause is 60m euros. Mad that Sporting are losing him for nothing.

Mirth wrote:

Hmm dunno, it was this sort of bargain hunting that cost Wenger.

To clarify, he's not free because he didn't get a new contract. He's free because Sporting have failed to pay out wages, and then their players got assaulted by the fans at the training centre last month. Martins, Bruno Fernandes and William Carvalho requested to have their contracts terminated. Martins was one of their highest rated players and Sporting were trying to increase his release clause from €60 million to €100 million with a new contract. This is probably gonna have to be settled in court.

You would think that Sporting would do a reasonable deal without having to go to court and risk getting nothing. Having said that, football is never rational.

If there was even a single rational cell in Bruno de Carvalho's body Sporting would never have gotten into this clusterfuck in the first place.

Sporting were in a good place couple months back, fighting in all four competitions when they lost 2-0 at Atletico without even playing that badly. BdC's response was getting hospitalised because of a slight heart attack then publicly blaming the players for it. When the squad responded that him calling them primadonnas and a disgrace was maybe a bit much his reaction was to suspend like 90% of the squad and staff. After a while they came back but the performances have started taking a nosedive culminating in him publicly calling out the players on Facebook mostly.

After their hard fought 1-0 win vs Atletico which proved ultimately too little there was a chance to reunite the team with the board but not with BdC, he slammed everyone again and asked the fans why the squad don't love the club like he does. Shortly thereafter the training ground fiasco happened where more and more evidence starts to point in the direction that at least some of the club's staff knew about the impending attack of the ultras. Two weeks later and a good chunk of the squad have terminated their contracts and the latest development today seems that the Supervisory Board of Sporting tried sacking him which he responded that he doesn't even know who this alleged board is.

So yeah, difficult to see anything reasonable happening at that club in a while!

I’m not keen. Looks limited

even on a free? if his prime function is to beat his man and bullet in crosses for auba, i think he ticks the box

13 goals and 13 assists from a more traditional winger type than the WF types we see is an excellent return & a better total than anything we got from Walcott IIRC.

It’s probably in line with Walcott’s output. As frustrating as he was, Walcott could put up raw numbers in his prime.

Claudius wrote:

It’s probably in line with Walcott’s output. As frustrating as he was, Walcott could put up raw numbers in his prime.

Close enough I guess - Walcott's best season was in 2012/13 with 14 goals and 10 assists for a combined total of 24.
Considering he was usually our 2nd goal threat other than when Sanchez joined, I'd think that Martin's numbers would indicate he's as good a goal threat as Walcott, and better than Rambo.
I think we need more genuine goal threats as opposed to players who can/may score and who are perhaps more recognised as a creative player rather than as a goal threat.

I heard about him when he was a prospect but not in recent years.
Checked out a highlight video of his and was astonished at how bad his final ball is.
That said, we are beggars in this situation as we possess zero wingers/dribblers of his ilk so getting him on a free is, indeed, a no-brainer.

The Premier League is also another level altogether.

Yeah. Looks shit.

Oh flo. This hasn't been your week, has it. If you keep up this bad form we might have to transfer you to another forum.

Klaus wrote:

I know it's just Youtube, etc, but I can't lie, I'm in love with this compilation. He reminds me of Cuadrado, and it's not just the hair.

Great shout, was thinking he played very similar to someone but didn't think of Cuadrado. Direct, pacy, skillful and good shot.

Klaus wrote:

Oh flo. This hasn't been your week, has it. If you keep up this bad form we might have to transfer you to another forum.

Says Mr The Dark Knight was a terrible movie

Indeed, you’ve both come out with some shockers.

Meh. He looks lively in that vid but there is very little quality in his end product. He can obviously beat a man and has some skill on the ball but nearly every cross is shit. The fact that most of those highlights finish before the ball evwn reaches a target is probably telling you something.

Thank you...

Just like Cuadrado, and he was shit too. It actually surprises me when someone like Klaus who I know has decent amount of footie knowledge and watches a vast number of games says a compilation like that is exciting. From what I saw, this Gelson fella is just another incomplete footballer with flashes of skill which hardly ever translate into goals or even good passes.

Juventus seem to rate Cuadrado just fine, but then again what do they know. He's only won three straight Serie A titles and played a Champions League final with them.

As for Gelson, who knows what his real level is. He's highly rated by Sporting at least and he looks like a proper dribbler in compilations. There aren't enough of those players to go around these days, and it's a shame because the game is too boring without them. I'm terribly sorry for thinking that football should be entertaining to watch, flobs.

People are underestimating how predatory auba can be even when supplied with mediocre crosses

Yeah I'm all for us getting in a proper pacey/tricky/skillful winger but that compilation of Gelson is very underwhelming

I don’t think that was the best compilation that could’ve been made. I think it undersold him

Even with the final ball being off most of the time it's not difficult to see what makes the player exciting. That pace work rate in attack and the confidence in himself to get past his marker again and again is rare in attackers these days, and I'd say it's easier to improve the final ball of someone like him than it is to teach someone with a decent final ball like Theo to beat his man.

Its one thing being confident taking people on in Portugal and whole different one in the PL.

Would far rather give Nelson minutes over this chump

Gelson, Nelson. We can't have both. Too confusing.

Saw a report today that suggested that he will soon be a free agent.

You didn't bother to read this thread before posting did you Anzac?

jones wrote:

You didn't bother to read this thread before posting did you Anzac?

jones wrote:

You didn't bother to read this thread before posting did you Anzac?

Yeah I put that badly as there has been talk of his 'hypothetical' availability for some time.

What I meant was that he is reportedly part of a group of players who have now made submissions for their contracts to be negated based upon 'just cause' - hence my post above meaning that it could become a reality shortly, and even more so with Patricio reportedly signing with Wolves (being one of the first players to depart as a result of the attack). 

I now see more clubs are coming out of the woodwork as being interested - not just in Martins but also our previous alternatives like Pavon and Lozano.