Roberto Martinez and Nuno Santos’ future in the national team: “There are many players in the future…” – Sporting

The national coach also addressed Paulinho's issue regarding player selection

Roberto Martinez has already been present for more than a few matches at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, where he has seen up close some of the Sporting players eligible for the Quinas squad, including Paulinho and Nuno Santos. Both were already present in the Portuguese squad, but were not called up by the national coach, who opened the book a little about his options in an interview with Sport TV.

In an interview to be published in full on Tuesday evening, the 50-year-old was clear in ensuring both Paulinho and Nuno Santos face strong competition for their positions in the national team context.

“Now Paulinho is having difficulty, with another striker at Sporting [o Gyökeres]. Direct competitive ability. But we have players like Andre Silva, who is fit again, and Beto, in the same position, but completely different, and a younger player, Thiago Thomas, who is doing well in the Bundesliga. The option is to have, for now, two attackers. But we are following what Paulinho is doing,” Martinez revealed about the condition of the 31-year-old Sporting striker who is already a Portuguese international.

Regarding Nuno Santos, the Spanish coach also acknowledged the issue of strong competition in the left position. “For us, Nuno Santos is a player with very high physical ability. But we have Nuno Mendes, who can do the same thing, Rafael Guerrero, who has already played in this position, Rafael Leao, who is not in the same role, but in the same area with the same structure.” Different. Nuno Santos has a difficult time: he has too many players up front,” said Roberto Martinez.

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