For months there’s been reports from the Portuguese and English media on Manchester United interest in Bruno Fernandes.
The player’s agent, who has an office in England and whose company has recently been working with Base Sports, has been travelling repeatedly between the countries.
This appears to have been a shock to many who seem to feel he should be managing Bruno and his other clients whilst sat on his sofa. Miguel Pinho’s work in getting the preparation of an offer correct is also fairly easy to understand, when the specific factors of this case are laid out.
Given that the rejection of an official offer over €35m would see Sporting forced to pay €5m in compensation to Bruno’s camp, and increase his wages, there’s no need to take that step until transfer war is declared or a fee is roughly agreed verbally.
This week has seen a little change from the usual reports. Monday saw Sporting’s president speak about reported Manchester United offers.
“I don’t know if there are many or if there are few [interested clubs],” Frederico Varandas told RTP. “What I know, a lot has been spoken of values, coming to the press, €55m, €62m… for that he doesn’t leave, for sure.”
He’d been ambushed by the media at Lisbon airport, flying out ahead of the squad for Sporting’s preseason tour.
A Bola later did the same with Bruno, and got some interesting quotes: “The president decides that, not me. I don’t care about the market, I’ve talked about this many times. The only thing I can do now is catch the plane so I don’t miss it. Will this be the last match for Sporting? I don’t know, it’s the coach who decides. I told you I’d like to play in England, but that’s not what interests me. It may be when the club decides.”
To be abundantly clear, when Bruno says ‘that’s not what interests me’, he means it’s not his concentration right now, with the Sporting captain wanting to show fans he’s fully committed to the club until a sale is agreed.
With Varandas speaking about supposed offers and setting his price stance, and Bruno winking towards a move to England, this one feels like it’s finally heating up.
