Tottenham Hotspur may have signed their two top transfer targets this summer in Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso, but they were looking at other targets as well. One of those targets was Sporting Lisbon attacking midfielder Bruno Fernandes, who was closely linked to Tottenham, but ended up staying at Sporting.
There were reports swirling in the days and weeks before the English window closed that Spurs had agreed personal terms with Bruno’s agent, but that Sporting were holding out for a very high transfer fee. Now, Fernandes has confirmed those rumors, saying that he had a deal in place to transfer to Spurs but Sporting rejected several Tottenham bids.
“Tottenham made several bids for me. Everything was agreed with me or practically. It was and is a goal for me to play in England, Sporting knows it, everyone knows it and there were indications that things would be done. But Sporting said that the transfer fee was not high enough and I have to respect the decision.”
Spare a moment for poor Bruno. His agent was doing his best to get him his desired move to the Premier League, and he was linked not only with Spurs but also Manchester United, as well as nominal links to a couple other English clubs. Instead, Sporting demanded a huge fee, the English clubs decided to look in other directions, and he ended up staying at Sporting for another season.
Given the choice, I think Tottenham got the better player in Lo Celso as I think he has the better upside and is also younger than Fernandes, but Bruno would’ve been a good addition to Spurs’ offense with his high shot volume and creativity. He’s probably going to be a good Premier League signing for somebody eventually, probably just not Spurs unless they decide to take another look at him this January or next summer.
Comments
If you believe the Daily Mail, as reported by BBC, Fernandes is going to Real Madrid for £63m
can’t remember if that was the price Spurs and ManU wouldn’t pay.
By Shelf on 08.31.19 3:39pm
I thought Spurs offered €55+10m
That’s very close, so if this is true, sounds like they just accepted the closest bid because they realized they weren’t getting what they wanted
By OnlyHalfPepper on 08.31.19 3:51pm
Which is arguably one of the problems with the differing PL/Europe windows.
By PA Chiefs Fan on 08.31.19 4:18pm
Not arguably. Absolutely!
By UrHuckleberry on 09.01.19 7:42am
That would be enormously funny if Real Madrid paid that for Fernandes but not for Eriksen
By Bad_News_Bears on 08.31.19 9:34pm
I think you could easily justify it
Three years younger, more of a CM/AM hybrid at this point of his career than Eriksen having played in a 4-3-3 last season, and is probably more similar to someone like Pogba in style in that he can take the ball himself and drive forward in midfield.
By CH5279 on 08.31.19 11:36pm
Eriksen has been playing CM/AM for us for the past 2 years, even if that's not how we've lined up.
He’s been responsible for game tempo, deep creative passing, and creating goals and assists in the final 3rd. Can’t define it clearer than that.
By Isnotfish on 09.01.19 12:13am
Easily?
Eriksen is one of the best in his world in his position, he’s proven himself in a top league, he’s got a very good fitness record, and at 27 still has years left in the tank. The only things Fernandes offers that he can’t is that he’s a couple years younger and can has played marginally deeper on occasion.
By GermaneGenius on 09.01.19 1:08am
Agree with this take
Not a slight against bruno cause I wanted us to sign him as the eriksen replacement, but eriksen is way too underrated at times.
I could also see eriksen playing a deeper playmaker role (pirloesque) as he gets older. He will be effective for years to come if used properly.
By Funomenon on 09.01.19 4:26am
Look I agree 100%
Eriksen is definitely the better player. But I think you could make an argument for Fernandes if you really believe in his skill set. Especially when Eriksen only has a year left
By CH5279 on 09.01.19 4:51am
There's also the language and cultural similarities that would make it easier to assimilate
That’s why Portugal is such a common route into Europe for Brazilian players.
Downside for Spurs is that Portuguese club presidents take particular delight in trying to get one over on DL. They see it as a challenge apart in the transfer game.
By BLRBrazil on 09.02.19 12:27am
I could see Spurs back in for Bruno in January, especially if Eriksen leaves now or in January.
By Ben Cmd Beaker on 08.31.19 4:01pm
Probably depends on where Sporting is in the table
If they are still in the title race they’ll probably keep him.
By Cousin_Drew on 08.31.19 4:20pm
Not now that he has hired Jorge Mendes as his agent
I assume Bruno was talking about Spurs interest before he fired his agent and hired Mendes.
By tinybubbles on 08.31.19 5:12pm
Oh he's going to Wolves.
Wow that is obvious.
By Cousin_Drew on 08.31.19 7:47pm
Yep
By tinybubbles on 08.31.19 8:02pm
Assuming nothing transpires at the end of this transfer window, I want Levy to take another crack at Dybala and see if they can sort out the image rights
By The Prince of White Hart Lane on 08.31.19 4:18pm
That would be best
DASH- Dybala Alli Son Harry is just such a galactico lineup and should work quite well too. If there’s one thing this squad has lacked it’s a close control world class dribbler. Sure Alli can flick and Son can ghost past fullbacks, but they’re not really tight dribblers. Dybala can do flicks obviously but some of his footwork is just crazy, and of course he has the vision to pass or the composure to shoot after a successful dribble.
It’s also clear that there is no one (not at Spurs) that Poch admires more than Dybala.
By CautiouslyCheerfulCharmander on 08.31.19 5:26pm
If you wanted a close control dribbler like that, give me Sancho every day of the week over Dybala
Unfortunately he’s way outside our price range now. He would have been the perfect Eriksen replacement. Not like for like, but would allow us to play either a 4-3-3 with Lo Celso, Ndombele, and maybe Dier in midfield. Or a 4-2-3-1 with Ndombele and Winks/Dier in the double pivot and then the attacking band of Son, Sancho, and one of Lo Celso or Dele. Plus Moura, Lamela, Clarke, Sess, etc
Potentially realistic option if we were trying to replace what Eriksen gives us would be Maddison. Although his price tag and the likely United or Liverpool interest could rule that out too.
By CH5279 on 08.31.19 5:55pm
Any Premier League player who isn't running down his contract or have a release clause will be prohibitively expensive for us
Players like Maddison, etc, if we’re interested we need to sign them before another Premier League club does or else it’ll never happen.
By Bad_News_Bears on 08.31.19 9:36pm
Yeah unfortunately we've missed our targets the last few seasons
For whatever reason, whether we didn’t want to pay up, players chose other clubs for more guaranteed playing time, or the other club refused to deal with us, we missed prime targets for affordable prices. The encouraging aspect is that we were in for them, so the scouting is doing its job.
But for attacking help we missed out on both Sancho and Maddison and to an extent Grealish (I think we rectified that by getting Lo Celso). And in central defense we went after and lost out on both Saliba and Akanji
By CH5279 on 08.31.19 11:40pm
Think it is harsh to say we "missed" on sancho.
From all I ready City refused to include him as part of the deal for walker.
By Funomenon on 09.01.19 4:40am
Yes that is what I was implying with the "or the club refused to deal with us" part
Unfortunate for us but still missed out on him in the end. Even if it was no fault of our own. I actually think we were not at fault for most of them. Suffered from having an extremely good first XI and not exactly having the money to pay backups. I also think we are seeing young players be hesitant to move to big clubs to sit on the bench. It seems like more and more young players are moving to smaller clubs to get the minutes knowing that ultimately player power is high enough that they will be able to force their move eventually
By CH5279 on 09.01.19 4:56am
I'm surprised we allowed Morrison and Barkley to go to other clubs at prices we could've absorbed
By BLRBrazil on 09.02.19 12:39am
further to above...
I think we’ve suffered the last few seasons from not being able to afford players who could walk into our 1st XI and unable to guarantee playing time to promising ones who wouldn’t. It’s not so easy to entice talented players to a rotation role, though our brand new world class infrastructure and CLfinal appearance are certainly improving our chances.
By BLRBrazil on 09.02.19 12:44am