Sporting confirm Hjulmand exit date, captain to bid farewell | OneFootball

Frederico Varandas, President of Sporting, confirmed that Morten Hjulmand will leave next season. The green and white captain agreed to stay at Alvalade to fight for the three-peat in 2025/26, despite having several much more lucrative offers.

"I want to say a word about our captain, because he turned down countless offers to earn three times as much and agreed… We had a conversation with the board and Morten will stay for one more year. But we managed to keep Morten," he began, before the Futsal Super Cup between Sporting and Benfica.

With several transfer rumors surrounding the squad, Varandas was clear: "Trincão was supposed to go to Saudi Arabia. Gonçalo Inácio to Saudi Arabia. Diomande was lost to Crystal Palace. And what happened? We kept the group together."

"Sporting fans need to understand something. Sporting did not finish in third place. Sporting did not finish in second place. Sporting has a double-champion locker room! And if a player is to come in there, he has to be better than double-champion Trincão, than double-champion Pote, than double-champion Morten, than double-champion Inácio," added Varandas.

To conclude, the Sporting president believes in a "stronger squad", presenting data to support this: "I look at the most reliable tool clubs have as a barometer of market value [Transfermarkt] and last year, Sporting had the most valuable squad in the league. Closing the market now, with the players we have, isn't Sporting's squad once again the most valuable in the league? And with about 80 million more than the second-placed team. And about 100 million more than the third-placed team."

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