Arsenal and Real Madrid circle Sporting's Fresneda, the defender Amorim could not unlock

Arsenal and Real Madrid are monitoring Sporting CP right-back Ivan Fresneda, the 21-year-old Spaniard who has reinvented himself under manager Rui Borges after being largely sidelined during Ruben Amorim’s tenure in Lisbon — the same Amorim who has since been appointed head coach at AC Milan.

Fresneda joined Sporting from Real Valladolid in a deal worth around £10 million but made just 16 appearances across a season-and-a-half under Amorim, a spell interrupted by two months out with a shoulder injury. Portuguese sports newspaper A Bola reports that the defender did not fit the specific demands Amorim placed on his wing-backs. Since Borges took charge, Fresneda has played 63 times and earned four caps for Spain’s under-21s — his first international appearances in two years.

The publication now describes Fresneda as “untouchable” and a cornerstone of Sporting’s future plans. That represents a dramatic shift in the club’s stance: under Amorim, Sporting were open to selling the player and had even entered negotiations with Como over a potential transfer. A Bola notes he once seemed “doomed to oblivion” before managing to “rewrite his own destiny”.

It is Fresneda’s defensive qualities rather than his attacking output that are said to be attracting Arsenal and his former club Real Madrid. He has registered just four goals and four assists across his entire club career. Instead, scouts are drawn to his aggressiveness, determination, and reading of the game — attributes that have made him a reliable fixture in Borges’ system.

The irony of the situation is not lost on observers. Rather than Fresneda departing Sporting for Italy, it is Amorim who has now arrived in southern Europe, appointed by AC Milan to replace Massimiliano Allegri at San Siro following the club’s failure to qualify for the Champions League. Milan’s managing partner Gerry Cardinale described Amorim’s Sporting tenure as “extremely impressive” and said the club had tracked him for years.

Fresneda’s release clause is reported to be set at £69 million — a figure that reflects how sharply his stock has risen since Amorim’s departure. Whether Arsenal or Real Madrid are willing to meet that valuation remains to be seen, but Sporting’s insistence that they intend to keep him at all costs suggests any deal would be far from straightforward.