On Thursday, a big sledgehammer was put right through the middle of Bruno Fernandes to Manchester City.
The Portuguese press had been reporting interest and last week they pushed City to the top of the pile for the player, with claims of a deal being built.
Soon after that, some English and Italian media picked up the baton and declared it pretty much a done deal.
Then the Portuguese media rowed the claims back, explaining that according to their information a transfer wasn’t so close. They’d been doing that for much of the week before the Thursday hammer.
It’s conceivable that Sporting had been pushing claims of Manchester City interest to their local media, with the intention of pressuring other clubs who may be keen. That would explain where the Portuguese claims came from, but not those in England and Italy, unless they were just punts based on taking the story further.
Friday’s edition of Record has Sporting and City splashed all over the front page, however, it’s nothing to do with Bruno.
Part of the transfer story had been of the two clubs developing a partnership, which would see players leave the Etihad on loan for Lisbon, and Manchester City subsequently having preference over Sporting’s breakthrough stars.
Record say an ‘alliance’ has now been agreed.
Then they go on to detail the partnership, although some of those details are eyebrow raising.
Manchester City and Sporting will ‘recruit players together’, which would mean they’d share ownership and therefore there’d be no reason for conventional loans.
The two clubs will share scouting and identification and also expertise. That work is already said to be happening, with the idea being to find players who have the talent to one day represent City’s first team and/or who have a very good chance of building value.
Record state: ‘Negotiations, which started shortly after Frederico Varandas’s arrival at the presidency of Sporting and involved the citizens’ CEO, Ferran Soriano, as well as his sports director, Txiki Begiristain, took place over several months and were recently concluded, after Hugo Viana also became directly involved in the process.’
It’s noted that Jorge Mendes didn’t play any part in the discussions.
Intriguingly, it’s then explained City contacted Sporting after the infamous attacks at their Lisbon training ground last year, and offered to help the club move forward. That sounds like a great little idea, if the claims are correct.
Shared ownership isn’t allowed for Premier League clubs, so not all the details here can be correct. However, there have been attempts to find ways around that, as the deal involving Gerónimo Rulli and Deportivo Maldonado seemed to suggest.
In practice, this could see Manchester City place players at Sporting, potentially from the South American market. The Portuguese club wouldn’t have the same work permit restrictions as English clubs.
On Bruno Fernandes, Record say: ‘In spite of constant talks between the two clubs (which, moreover, will continue), the possible business for Bruno Fernandes never officially rose to the table of negotiations, within the framework of the partnership now closed. Despite City’s interest in the midfield, it was clear from the outset that there would be no ‘confusion’ of topics, however much, in a relaxed and informal record, the goals and displays of the No. 8 have been the subject of comments. The English champion knows that he is not alone in the race and that this approach to Sporting, via partnership, does not guarantee any kind of future advantage or privilege.’
