Sporting to sell centre-back in January, Palmeiro seeks suitors | OneFootball

Sporting wants to sell Rafael Pontelo in this winter market. However, as revealed by our Newspaper in this Exclusive Leonino, the task has been quite complicated for some months now, as there are no offers for the center-back, who was signed while Ruben Amorim was still the coach of the Alvalade Club.

According to information gathered from a source close to the process, Sporting's SAD has already received some offers for the Brazilian defender, but only for a loan. To date, no club has shown interest in signing Rafael Pontelo permanently, so Bernardo Palmeiro is already on the ground looking for interested parties.

Sporting remains attentive to possible deals, having already thrown in the towel and admitted the failure in signing Rafael Pontelo. Signed from Leixões for 700 thousand euros in January 2024, the center-back never managed to show the reason for being a reinforcement for the Alvalade Club and was demoted to the B team.

The player made his debut for the main team on January 9, 2024, in the lions' home game against Tondela, in a match for the round of 16 of the Portuguese Cup where the Alvalade team won 4-0, with goals from Pote (twice) and Gyokeres (twice). The defender started the game and was substituted at halftime, having only added one more minute in the away game at Vizela.

In 2025/26, Rafael Pontelo - valued at 300 thousand euros - played only three games for the Alvalade Club's B team, having played only 72 minutes. Despite being a regular presence in João Gião's call-ups, the player has not yet started a match since the beginning of the season.

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