Ivan Fresneda's Rise at Sporting: Arsenal's Interest Grows

Ivan Fresneda’s unlikely renaissance in Lisbon has dragged him back into the sights of Europe’s elite – and this time, Arsenal are watching closely.

For a long stretch under Ruben Amorim at Sporting, the young right-back looked like another talented prospect drifting towards the margins. A £10 million signing from Real Valladolid, with Real Madrid pedigree in his past, yet barely a foot on the pitch. Just 16 appearances in 18 months, two of those months lost to shoulder surgery, and a club quietly open to letting him go.

At one stage, Sporting even held talks with Como over a potential move. In Portugal, A Bola wrote that he seemed “doomed to oblivion”. For a 21-year-old once tipped as a future Spain international, it felt like the story was being written without him.

Then the coach changed, and so did everything.

Rui Borges arrived and immediately saw a different kind of full-back. Not a flying wing-back in Amorim’s mould, bombing on as an auxiliary winger, but a defender who relishes the dirty work. Fresneda was no longer judged on the lack of goals and assists – just four of each in his club career – but on his positioning, his reading of the game, his willingness to engage and compete.

The numbers tell the story. From 16 appearances under Amorim to 63 under Borges. From the edge of the squad to a player the club now considers indispensable and central to their long-term plans. From two years in the international wilderness to four caps for Spain’s under-21s last season.

Borges, as reported in Portugal, has “unlocked” something Amorim either did not see or did not need. The tactical profile that once made Fresneda an awkward fit for Sporting’s wing-back system has become a strength in a more defensively balanced set-up. He defends first, attacks when he can, and does so with a combative edge that has caught the eye far beyond Lisbon.

That profile is now drawing interest from Arsenal and from his former club, Real Madrid. For Mikel Arteta, a disciplined, defensively sound right-back who can handle high-level tactical demands has obvious appeal. Arsenal have built a side on structure and control; a young full-back with strong positional sense and a reputation for commitment fits neatly into that vision.

The irony is hard to miss. While Fresneda stays in Lisbon and finally thrives, it is Amorim who has taken the Italian route that once looked destined for his former player.

AC Milan have appointed the Portuguese coach to succeed Massimiliano Allegri at San Siro after missing out on Champions League football. In their official announcement, Milan hailed Amorim’s “modern, dominant tactical approach” and his ability to “develop young players and maximise their potential”. Gerry Cardinale, managing partner of RedBird Capital Partners, went further, describing him as “one of the most prepared and innovative coaches of the new European generation” and praising his high-press, possession-based, quick-transition football.

That same philosophy, so admired in Milan’s boardroom, is the one under which Fresneda never quite fit at Sporting.

A Bola framed the defender’s resurgence as “a turnaround worthy of a cinematic script”. It is not far off. From the brink of an exit to Como to being recast as a cornerstone of Sporting’s future, all while Europe’s heavyweights circle again.

Now the question is simple and brutal, as it always is at this level: does he stay as the pillar of Borges’ project in Lisbon, or does this second chance at the big time lead him back to Spain or into the Premier League, where Arsenal wait for a right-back who has already proved he knows how to fight his way back from the edge?