Fans urge Martínez: call up €2M ex-Sporting star for World Cup | OneFootball

Afonso Moreira’s debut season with Lyon continues to earn praise in France. The winger has been one of the standout players in Paulo Fonseca’s squad, and fans are captivated by the talent of the former Sporting player, who is establishing himself as one of the most decisive under-21s in the top five European leagues.

On social media, many fans of the French club go even further and suggest that Roberto Martínez should call up the youngster to the senior national team for the next World Cup, at a time when the coach has been promoting several debuts.

According to data released by the specialist page PopFoot, the player is the fifth under-21 with the highest direct goal contribution in the ‘Big-5’ leagues. The youth international has 15 decisive actions, surpassed only by names like Lamine Yamal (30, Barcelona), Kenan Yildiz (19, Juventus), Arda Guler (19, Real Madrid), and Yan Diomande (16, Leipzig).

The athlete, who left Sporting for 2 million euros, also stands out for his consistency: he is directly involved in a goal every 103 minutes. Among the usual wingers used in the National Team, Afonso Moreira already boasts better numbers this season than Carlos Forbs, Pedro Neto, Rafael Leão, Bernardo Silva, Francisco Conceição, and Jota Silva. Ahead of him are only João Félix (29), Ricardo Horta (23), Francisco Trincão (19), and Pedro Gonçalves (17).

This season, wearing the Lyon shirt, Afonso Moreira - valued at 5 million euros - has played 28 matches: 19 in Ligue 1, six in the Europa League, and three in the French Cup. In his 1,546 minutes on the pitch, the player has scored six goals and provided nine assists.

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