Quaresma, the pearl of Sporting Portugal coveted by several European clubs
Eduardo Quaresma is one of the emerging stars of Portuguese football. An 18-year-old center-back who is on the radar of Atletico Madrid and AC Milan, who has taken advantage of the return to training after the Covid break to earn the trust of Ruben Amorim, who has been managing Sporting Portugal since March.
The center-back has a contract with the Portuguese club until 2022 and, although his clause is currently 25 million, the Portuguese press suggests that negotiations have already begun to protect one of Portugal's new pearls, whose clause would increase to 45 million.
According to the media in Portugal and Italy, AC Milan's offer for the player of 10 million euros did not come to fruition.
In addition to Milan's interest, there have been rumors about the RB Leipzig's monitoring, a club always attentive to young European talents, as well as Atletico Madrid's interest, which reportedly tried to secure his services last year after offering him a four-year contract.
Eduardo Quaresma did the preseason with Sporting
Despite his youth, he already participated in the last preseason with the first team in Portugal, as well as traveling to the United States to face Liverpool at Yankee Stadium in New York.
This work allowed him to earn a place in the under-23 team, with which he has played 23 out of 35 games, in addition to his great performance with Portugal in the U-17 Euro last year, a competition in which they were eliminated by Italy in the quarterfinals (1-0).
Quaresma has represented the national team since the under-15 category and has participated in matches with the under-18 and under-19 teams. Some already see him as the natural replacement for Uruguayan Coates and Frenchman Jeremy Mathieu, with whom he has already had the opportunity to train.
Versatility, height and speed
His 185 centimeters is one of his main assets, as despite being tall, he has a good top speed that makes him difficult to beat, in addition to the good tactical level he has shown in man-marking.
Offensively, his precision in short and long passes, as well as good vision of the game, gives him the versatility to occasionally play in the center of the field, something that has already been seen in some matches with Sporting and makes him an even more complete player.