Arsenal are one of a number of clubs interested in signing Gelson Martins from Sporting CP, Sky Sports have confirmed.

In recent days, Arsenal’s links to Martins have grown stronger and stronger. The club reportedly had two bids for him turned down in the last couple of weeks. Then Sporting announced that Martins requested the termination of his playing contract on Monday, which only added to the speculation.

Sources in the English media were surprisingly quiet about the whole thing though. That’s until now, with Sky Sports News finally reporting that Arsenal are one of the clubs chasing the player.

To briefly explain the situation around Martins’ contract termination, the Sporting CP training ground was attacked towards the end of last season. As a result, some players feel they’re within their rights to terminate their contracts. The 23-year-old winger is one of those players.

If Sporting accept his termination request, Martins can join Arsenal for free. If they try to fight back against it, things might be more difficult. However, it might also make the Portuguese club more receptive to an offer to sell the player this summer.

We’ll have to wait and see if that ends up being the case. For now, the Portuguese international is away with his country for the World Cup.