Sporting are preparing contract renewals for some of their younger squad members, including the Arsenal and Liverpool-linked Nuno Mendes, according to A Bola.
It was last month claimed that Arsenal had ‘come forward with a declaration of intent’ to sign the versatile left-sider (O Jogo), following earlier reports that Liverpool had made an approach to Sporting (Record).
Mendes had already signed a new five-year contract at the start of the summer.
But interest from the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool is said to have caused Sporting to want to ‘safeguard’ Mendes, along with their other ‘main pearls’, Goncalo Inacio and Matheus Nunes, in whom many European clubs are ‘already aware’.
As such, all three players are set to have their salaries and, crucially, their buyout clauses – all of which currently stand at €45 million (£40.8m) – increased, according to A Bola.
Neither Arsenal – who already employ Kieran Tierney, Bukayo Saka and Sead Kolasinac – nor Liverpool – Andrew Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas – appear particularly desperate for reinforcements in Mendes’s role.
Arsenal and Liverpool fans – would Mendes be a good addition?
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