Chelsea eye Sporting regular after Mourinho effect | OneFootball

Sporting have gained yet another reason to keep a close eye on the summer transfer market. An unexpected move at the top of European football has opened the door for one of the most important players in the Lions’ squad to come under the watch of a Premier League giant, a scenario that promises to shake up the coming weeks at Alvalade.

It all began with Marc Cucurella’s move to José Mourinho’s Real Madrid. The departure of the Spanish international left a vacancy at Chelsea and, according to journalist Sebas Giovanelli, Maxi Araújo is now on the club’s radar.

The situation takes on even greater significance because the Uruguayan international heads into the market with his value boosted after a great performance at the World Cup. Against Saudi Arabia, Maxi scored Uruguay’s only goal and once again confirmed his status as a key player, in a display that did not go unnoticed by Europe’s top clubs. At Alvalade, there is an awareness that the player is going through one of the best spells of his career.

Even so, Frederico Varandas remains inflexible. The Sporting president has no intention of negotiating the winger for anything below his €80 million release clause, especially after the importance the player had in winning back-to-back league titles and in the growth of the team coached by Rui Borges.

Signed from Toluca for around €13.73 million, Maxi Araújo has produced two seasons of an extremely high level at Sporting, totaling 93 matches, 11 goals and 10 assists. If they decide to make a move, Chelsea could pull off another multimillion-euro deal with the Lions, after the transfers of Dário Essugo and Geovany Quenda to Stamford Bridge.

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