Sporting have insufficient funds, face financial dilemma

Sporting have revealed the severity of their financial problems, with it revealed that their financial resources are currently insufficient to cover their financial needs.

Sporting's current balance is unable to cover the costs of the next twelve months, with Sporting believed to require an extra 65 million euros to cover all the necessary funds.

More pertinently for the club, 40 million euros is needed to be paid by the end of June of this year.

The remaining 25 million that needs to be raised will then be due by December.

With the timetable of payment in place, Sporting are hoping to get an early payment for Liga NOS television rights to cover the shortfall.

If that fails, Sporting have admitted that they may be forced to sell the economic rights of some of their most valuable players in order to capture the funds required.

Bruno Fernandes is undoubtedly their most sought-after asset, and his time at Sporting may be set to come to a premature end if Sporting do not raise the cash by other means.

Sporting, it can be recalled, lost William Carvalho, Gelson Martins, Rafael Leão, Daniel Podence and Rui Patricio for nothing last summer, after they all unilaterally terminated their contracts.

While they have since received 18 million euros from Wolves for the services of Patricio, they have yet to receive any compensation for the likes of Gelson, Podence and Leão, which can explain why Sporting are in a poor financial state.

Sporting estimate that "the shortage of resources will be noticeable by the end of April 2019."