He's now colchonero. The Portuguese international forward Gelson Martins, who was without a team after breaking his contract with Sporting Lisbon in June, has committed to Atletico Madrid for five seasons, the Spanish club announced on Wednesday. He will be part of La Liga Santander.
Born in Cape Verde 23 years ago, Gelson Martins was formed in the lower divisions of Sporting Lisbon, where he has shone during the last three seasons. The forward terminated his contract in June, along with other players from the Portuguese club involved in a serious institutional crisis. This way, he joins Atletico Madrid.
Martins has 19 appearances with the Portuguese national team and played in the 2017 Confederations Cup and the 2018 World Cup in Russia. "We welcome an extraordinary player, who despite his age, has experience and has played matches at the highest level for clubs and with his national team," wrote Atletico in a statement.
In a press conference, Atletico Madrid's coach Diego Simeone did not hold back praise for his new player. He believes that he will be of great importance for the objectives set by the Spanish capital team for the upcoming season.
"He is a continuously growing young man, we saw it last year, his characteristics can help us, he will give us competition on the right or offensively if we play with three up front, the field will mark him. He gives us the speed that nowadays is very important in football," said Atletico Madrid's coach.
This is how Atletico Madrid welcomed Gelson Martins. (Twitter)
Source (AFP)