Sporting and Manchester United remain at loggerheads over a transfer fee for Bruno Fernandes, with the Portuguese side unimpressed by the bonuses United have included in their offer.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is eager to bring in a creative midfielder before the January window closes and personally scouted Fernandes in action against Porto at the start of the month with assistant Mike Phelan.
After early optimism that a deal could be completed when Sporting officials flew to England to meet with United bosses, agreeing a fee has proven to be very difficult.
According to The Times, Sporting rejected an offer worth £40million plus £25m in bonuses because they deemed the clauses too unrealistic to ever be able to cash in on them.
The bonuses would be dependent on, among other things, United winning the Premier League, the Champions League and Bruno finishing in the top three of the Ballon d’Or award.
Given that United are currently 27 points adrift of Premier League leaders Liverpool – a gap which could increase after their clash at Anfield on Sunday – and did not even qualify for the Champions League this season, Sporting feel the bonuses are practically worthless.
As a result, Sporting feel the offer is effectively worth just £42.6m – not the £65m United are claiming – with the majority of the bonuses extremely unlikely to be triggered.
Sporting’s stance, therefore, is that United need to significantly up their guaranteed cash offer, particularly when Tottenham actually offered more for Fernandes in the summer – which was also rejected.
Sporting boss Silas hinted at a hold-up in talks when asked if Fernandes would play against Braga on Tuesday, saying: ‘I don’t know. For now I think so.
‘I will prepare the game with Bruno in mind, now from here on out I don’t know what could happen. It’s a player that wants to play in a league superior to ours.
‘What player wouldn’t want to play in the English league? It’s hard to tell him “don’t go”. Bruno deserves to play in those kind of league and the best is that one. If he is one of the best he has to be there.’
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