Spanish sports daily Marca claim that Real Madrid have joined the queue of big European names for Sporting Lisbon youngster Gelson Martins.
 

The 21-year-old winger, who was born on the Cape Verde Islands, will be on opposing side to the Spanish giants tonight as the Sporting host Real Madrid in Lisbon. In the first group game of this year’s competition, Martins impressed Los Blancos President Florentino Perez and he will be under close scrutiny once again this evening.
 

As we reported on Calciomercato.com, Milan and Inter executives are also travelling to the Portuguese capital for tonight’s game with both clubs having Martins at the top of their viewing list. The player has been at Sporting since 2010 and was also part of the Portuguese squad that claimed an unlikely victory in this summer’s European Championships in France. The Lisbon club are resigned to losing one of their crown jewels but the fight to secure his signature could be one of the main talking points in the upcoming January transfer window.

Steve Mitchell @barafundler