Manchester United have reached an agreement to sign Sporting CP midfielder, Bruno Fernandes, in a deal worth an initial €55 million.
The two clubs reached an agreement on Tuesday and the deal is close to being completed ahead of Friday’s transfer deadline.
United could pay up to €80m (£68m/$88m) for the Portugal international with a number of additional clauses having been agreed between the two parties.
It is understood that €10m of those add-ons should be relatively straightforward to achieve, but the details involved in the final €15m are far less likely to be reached.
Talks between United and Sporting had broken down in recent days with the clubs too far apart when it came to a valuation of Fernandes.
Sporting had been holding out for €80m, with United only willing to offer an initial €50m, with a further €10.5m in add-ons.
Those add-ons included the 25-year-old winning the Ballon d’Or and the Red Devils winning the Premier League, and though it is understood they remain part of the deal, Sporting were unhappy that even with their inclusion the total amount would fall some way short of their valuation.
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has prioritised midfield as an area to strengthen this month.
Fernandes joined Sporting from Sampdoria for £7.2m in 2017.
He has gone on to score 64 goals in 137 matches in all competitions and won the Portuguese Cup in 2018-19. He was also named the Primeira Liga’s player of the year in both 2017-18 and 2018-19.
He has played 19 times for Portugal and was part of the squad that won the Uefa Nations League.
Reports on Tuesday suggested that Barcelona had shown an interest in signing Fernandes, with the Blaugrana hopeful of using him as a makeweight in their pursuit of Valencia striker Rodrigo Moreno.
But the player will now travel to Manchester on Wednesday to complete the move ahead of a potential debut against Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday.
Fernandes’ arrival comes as a timely boost to United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks.
(Goal.com)
