On Saturday evening, Marca are reporting Manchester United are on the verge of signing Bruno Fernandes and that he’s on the way to England for a medical, however, it may be best if supporters don’t get too excited.
The claims are working their way around the internet and have already made their way to Italy, with various gossip columns picking them up. It’s also growing on social media.
To be clear, this is what Marca say: ‘17.09 hours. Manchester United are about to sign Bruno Fernandes permanently. When it seemed that the negotiations had been broken, in a last attempt of the English club an agreement has been reached with Sporting for a figure of just over €62m. In fact, the player himself is already on his way to Manchester to pass the relevant medical examination.’
There’s no getting away from them saying that. It’s been said. Very much so.
But it’s not an independent article on Marca, it’s part of their round-up/live blog, where they sometimes give credit and sometimes don’t. It’s not a fail-safe to believe them not giving credit means it’s an exclusive.
As an example of this, the claim previous was: ‘16.41 hours. Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye is about to sign for PSG until 2023.’
This almost certainly isn’t Marca’s information, it’s likely coming from France, but they don’t make that clear.
An obvious conclusion is they got the Bruno from the Corriere dello Sport claims in Thursday’s newspaper, which also said he was set for a Manchester medical. If Marca did get it from there then it could be easily dismissed, as that felt like old claims twisted a bit and just plonked in a Milinkovic-Savic story.
However, that article said €70m, and Marca say €62m.
There’s a possibility that with English articles covering those Corriere claims, and converting the €70m to £62m, this is an extension of the confusion.
A few tweets like the below are doing the rounds on social media today, and that could be the basis.
The €/£ being interchangeable isn’t unusual.
🇵🇹👹 Bruno Fernandes is reportedly set to fly to England for a medical with Manchester United after a £62m fee has allegedly been agreed!
🗞 Correire Dello Sport#MUFC pic.twitter.com/crx6Aywstf
— Now Football (@Now_FootbaIl) July 27, 2019
Bruno Fernandes trained with Sporting on Saturday afternoon (there’s picture proof) and the Lisbon side are set to face Valencia on Sunday.
It’s a home match and the traditional welcoming of the team for the coming season.
Bruno has been excellent in preseason, perhaps if he doesn’t play that’s a big sign, but, as it stands, it seems those claims from Thursday have gone through the rumour mill, and keep popping out in a new form.
He wasn’t on his way to Manchester on Thursday, and he was in training not so long before Marca posted their claim today.
Alternatively, it is a Marca exclusive, we’re being far too cautious (it has happened on occasion), and Bruno stripped out of his training gear, put a suit on, got on a jet, and is now making his way to the Lowry Hotel.
Over in Portugal today there was a mixed bag on Bruno. A Bola and Correio da Manhã both reported Manchester United want to get Harry Maguire over the line first, with the latter also making it sound like the midfielder’s agent, Miguel Pinho, has been ostracised to England until he can magic up an official offer.
