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Sporting Lisbon may have a job on their hands to keep hold of winger Gelson Martins as interest from Liverpool intensifies, Liverpool will look to take full advantage of the fact that the club from the Portuguese capital have financial issues and it is those issues which have seen one of their players snapped up Villarreal.
The Yellow Submarine have announced the capture of Ruben Semedo for a fee believed to be that of 14 Million Euro.
Semedo who can play in either centre defence or centre midfield was reportedly a target for newly promoted Premier League side Newcastle United
But yesterday Rafa Benitez’s hopes of capturing the signature of Semedo were dashed as the agent of the 23 year old went on record to say that his client would prefer to ply his trade in La Liga than opposed to the hustle and bustle of English football.
Semedo is a Portuguese Under 21 international with 8 caps to his name and will be looking to try to break into the senior squad in time for next summers FIFA World Cup in Russia and it is hoped that with a move to Villarreal under his belt it will give him the platform to step up a level in the international scene.
Sporting obviously feel that Semedo will go on to even greater things as they have been clever enough to add a 20% sell on fee clause to the contract should as expected their former player go on to bigger and even better things in his career.
For Villarreal it is certainly a capture to be proud of especially as they have managed to get one over the Premier League, a route that so many players seem to opt for in regards to a transfer. The hope now will be that they can break back into the top four and return to the Champions League after reaching the play-off stage in 2016/17.
Contract Details here (Portuguese text)
