Bruno Fernandes' agent is in London to tie up Manchester United transfer
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer watched the midfielder in action on Sunday. Sporting Clube president Frederico Varandas has also travelled to London.
Last summer, Manchester United were considering Bruno Fernandes as an alternative in midfielder if Paul Pogba ended up joining Real Madrid. Pogba stayed put and the operation to sign the Sporting Clube captain was closed. Now the situation is different and it seems Fernandes is United's primary target in the winter transfer window ahead of Ajax's Donny van de Beek.
On Friday, the player's agents and Sporting president Frederico Varandas flew to London to hold a meeting with Ed Woodward and Matt Judge, The Daily Mail reports. The objective was to see if a deal could be struck for Bruno Fernandes and whether a United player could be included in the operation.
With Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba both out injured, United need to bring in a midfielder if they are to remain in with a chance of qualifying for European competition next season. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Mike Phelan were spotted watching Sunday's game between Sporting Clube and Porto - more proof that United's interest in Fernandes has been aroused again: "I've started thinking about alternatives if Bruno doesn't stay. I hope it doesn't happen but in Portugal, unfortunately we cannot hold on to our best players for very long and he is the best player in the league", Sporting coach Silas said recently.
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And now much of the competition for the player from elsewhere has waned. Real Madrid were interested at one point but Zidane doesn't want to make any signings in January. Tottenham also made enquiries but negotiations failed to progress.
Bruno Fernandes is valued at almost 65 million euros but United hope to sign him for a lower fee by including one of their players in the deal. The only name that has been mentioned in Portugal is Argentine defender Marcos Rojo but United would not be willing to let him go.
In the meantime, former United player Rio Ferdinand has published a tweet to say that the signing of Bruno Fernandes is imminent...