Spurs target Bruno Fernandes gains a suitor while another drops out

While the clock ticks down on the transfer window in England, Tottenham Hotspur are still negotiating for three primary targets if all reporting is to believed. One of those targets is Sporting’s Bruno Fernandes, who has been linked off and on to Spurs over most of the window. There’s a lot to unwrap from the weekend reporting, so let’s dive in and try to summarize it.

Friday, Portuguese outlet O Jogo had a story that Fernandes preferred a move to Tottenham over Manchester United but Real Madrid had entered the bidding. The link is somewhat flimsy given that Madrid have already spent an insane amount of money this summer and are still chasing Paul Pogba or Ajax midfielder Donny Van de Beek. The story was enough for Alasdair Gold of Football London to make a comment on in one of his weekly updates, so that’s something.

In that same snippet, Gold states that Fernandes’ team have brought in super agent Jorge Mendes to try and get this deal over the finish line, no matter where the destination.

He currently represents David De Gea who appears to sign a bumper new deal, and was involved in the Red Devils £60m move for Angel Di Maria and Cristiano Ronaldo’s world record departure for Real Madrid.

De Gea, surprisingly, is still at United after so many links to Spain. Mendes is one of the best in the business and is being brought in for a couple of reasons:

There is the indication that the super agent could bring Spanish and Italian teams into the fold and even drive the price up to £70m but Mendes has a history of making big deals with Manchester United.

Mendes will be around just in case a deal falls through to an English club. If Real Madrid are actually in for Fernandes, they may simply be waiting to see if he’s available after the weekend as there have been no other clubs linked.

If Mendes is coming in to help get a move through to Manchester United, that goes against what BBC reported on Sunday, which stated that United are done with this race:

Then there’s the price tag. I’m not sure where Gold is pulling the £70m number as he is linking the Daily Star, which is very low on the reliability scale though they’ve been slightly better this season for some odd reason. It also could be prior reports stating Sporting’s valuation of Fernandes.

Building upon that, Daily Star reported that Duncan Castles, one of the beat writers for Manchester United, that Tottenham bid £41m for Fernandes and with good reason if it’s true:

That’s according to Duncan Castles, who says Spurs are aware of a clause in Fernandes’ contract that forces Sporting to offer the player compensation if they reject a bid of at least £32m for him.

The Portugal international is running out of time to seal a move to the Premier League, with the English transfer window due to close on August 8.

Manchester United were initially favourites to prise Fernandes away from Sporting, with reports suggesting they had identified him as a potential replacement for wantaway star Paul Pogba, but Spurs now look to be in pole position to sign the 24-year-old.

And Castles believes the north London club have put Sporting under pressure with their £41m offer.

I’d take this with a grain of salt because Giovani Lo Celso supposedly had a clause like this if a bid were made over a certain level but it hasn’t been reported in some time. It could be true, sure! Given that it’s coming from Castles, who has been known to basically make sh*t up as he goes but has shown to have some sources at United, I’d be skeptical.

Fernandes played in the Portuguese Supercup over the weekend, which ended in defeat against SL Benfica to the tune of 5-0. Fernandes was quite emotional after the match:

Some of the lower tier outlets have suggested that this was planned to be his final match for Sporting, but common sense dictates that he’s upset that they got blown out.

We already reported last week that Spurs had sent a delegation to Lisbon for negotiation, but if Sporting have slapped a £70m price tag on him, we’re out of the running. If that clause is true and Levy is trying (again) to play chicken with another club over a transfer, then it’s another wait and see situation that we’re all probably sick of.

This is a lot to take in, but the summary comes down to this:

• Fernandes has brought in a super agent to help facilitate a deal.
• Spurs link to Fernandes is genuine, but Levy is playing games with another lowball bid of £41m due to a clause that bumps Fernandes’ compensation if it’s rejected.
• Manchester United have pulled out of the bidding, according to the BBC.
• Real Madrid have entered the fray.
• Expect Fernandes to be a part of the final days of chaos in some way since nobody is denying this.

Four days to go, everyone.