Football | OneFootball

Tonel believes that Gonçalo Inácio could leave Sporting. Although advising the Lions to keep the center-back “for many years,” the former defender believes that, given the recent interest from Barcelona, it’s possible that the “number 25” will leave Alvalade.

“He is one of the pillars of Sporting’s team. A player who has been improving, growing. He’s better today than he was a year ago, six months ago. If he continues with the evolution he’s had in recent years, he can reach a higher level. He’s already at a fantastic level, but he can move to other, more competitive leagues. He’s increasingly mature with and without the ball. The improvements are more visible without the ball, because with the ball he’s a player who has always linked play very well, inside, with the pass into the interior, he makes good decisions, and has a good medium and long pass,” he told the newspaper A Bola.

For Tonel, Inácio “without the ball, is improving a lot,” which translates into better coordination of the green-and-white defense: “He is very calm, very focused, very confident. At this point, I have no doubt that he is one of the pillars of the team.”

“I think for Sporting it would be beneficial to keep Gonçalo for many years, also to have an identity; he’s Portuguese, an academy product, he would be a leader, a strong image of the club. But nowadays money talks very loudly, and if an offer comes in that meets the release clause, I believe he’ll want to try something else and also substantially increase his salary. Barcelona? Looking at the sporting aspect, I think in that league Gonçalo would identify very well. Compared to England, I think he’d fit better in La Liga,” he said, about the Catalans’ interest.

At the start of the 2025/26 season, Gonçalo Inácio — valued at 45 million euros — is one of the ever-presents in the Sporting team. The green-and-white center-back has totaled 990 minutes across 11 games, in which he has already provided two assists for goals.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.