Sporting Lisbon file court case against Atlético Madrid over Gelson Martins
Sporting Lisbon have taken their case to the Portuguese courts and are demanding 105 million euros in compensation from Atlético for Gelson Martins.
Portuguese daily A Bola reports that Sporting Lisbon has filed a case against Atlético Madrid with Portugal’s sports arbitration courts, after the two clubs failed to come to an agreement on a compensation fee for Gelson Martins.
Martins joined Atlético Madrid as a free agent in July after rescinding his contract with Sporting following a training ground attack by a group of Ultra fans in May.
Later Sporting filed a complaint with Fifa in citing the "unacceptable behaviour of Atlético Madrid in the case of Gelson Batalla Martins", after which Atlético proposed to pay 15 million euros in compensation (plus 10 million variables) for the player, before raising their offer to 22 million euros. But the offer was rejected by Sporting, and despite lowering their asking price from 50 million to 40 million, no agreement could be reached between the clubs.
Martins had buyout clause set at 100 million in new deal
Now the Portuguese club will go before the Portugal’s Court of Sports Arbitration to demand 105 million euros for the striker, on the grounds that a week before he cancelled his contract, Martins signed a new deal that would see his salary rise from 1.8 million to 2.2 million and included a buyout clause of 100 million euros.
Since the summer, the clubs have had several negotiation meetings in order to avoid the courts, but according to A Bola, Atlético have not wanted to pay more than the 15 million euros they originally offered last summer. The Portuguese news outlet also claims that Sporting would have been satisfied with an offer of between 30 million and 40 million euros, but that Atlético had never considered paying that amount.
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