Manchester United have finally made a breakthrough in talks to sign Bruno Fernandes from Sporting Lisbon, with widespread reports in Portugal claiming a fee has been agreed.
United have been locked in talks to sign Fernandes for weeks though the deal appeared to be on the risk of collapse over the structure of bonus payments, with Sporting feeling that the clauses were unrealistic.
One required Fernandes to place in the Ballon d’Or, while United would also have to win the Premier League and Champions League in order for Sporting to receive the full sum.
But now Record, Correio da Manha TV and a host of Portuguese outlets say Sporting have accepted United’s latest, improved offer of €55million (£46.5m) plus €25m (£21m) in bonuses.
This time, around €10m (£8.5m) of the bonuses are considered very realistic and will almost certainly be cashed-in on by Sporting, while the rest are harder to achieve.
TVI24 even suggest that the deal could be concluded in the ‘next few hours’, with United looking to get the deal rubberstamped well before Friday’s 11pm transfer deadline.
As part of the deal, Sporting will also receive 10% of any profit from a future sale of Fernandes.
The 25-year-old has already verbally agreed terms with United over a transfer and will now need to fly into Manchester to complete a medical and sign his new contract.
Sporting had hoped to receive a bigger fee for Fernandes but are in financial difficulties and need the money, though the fee still ranks second only behind Joao Felix’s £113m move to Atletico Madrid from Benfica.
Fernandes has been the stand-out player in Portuguese football for several seasons and has scored eight goals, as well as laying on seven assists, in 17 Liga NOS outings this campaign – consolidating his 20 goals and 13 assists last season.
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