Vice-president Carlos Vieira in interview with Jornal de Notícias

"There is absolutely no obligation at all for us to sell players", guaranteed Sporting's vice-president for finance, Carlos Vieira, in an interview with Jornal de Notícias.

The Alvalade board member proved untroubled by a wealth of financial questions put to him by the daily publication, responding: "The financial restructuring was clear. The first stage was to resolve the financial deficit and to restructure credit, moving a lot of it into medium and long term. The second stage is to get the best out of sporting and its business. The term technical bankruptcy is incorrectly used in the case of sports clubs. Of course their is always going to be a difference between what the squad is worth on the transfer market and what it is worth on the balance sheet. The dynamic that Jorge Jesus has brought in allowed us to seal the biggest television deal ever in December."