I’ve never seen Gedson Fernandes play. Up until a week ago, I’d never heard of him. Most of us hadn’t.
I was envisaging some sort of Benson and Hedges situation from Mike Bassett, with Mourinho having written down ‘Fernandes – Portugal’ on a piece of paper, and Daniel Levy bringing back the wrong one.
Now all of a sudden, there are Gedson experts everywhere, thinking they have a true understanding of the player based on a few hours of Googling.
It is like nobody can form an original opinion these days.
But somebody who may actually have one on Gedson is Portuguese journalist Goncalo Lopes, who has been tracking the midfielder for years.
MORE: Gedson Fernandes Medical Done
Lopes told The Times: “He has great potential. He’s quick, strong and a bit skilful. He comes from a golden era from Benfica youth category. João Félix was always seen as the most talented of this generation, but then came Gedson.”
I will wait until I see the kid play until deciding to hype him up, or pigeonhole him as another Levy bargain gone wrong. But, for now, I trust this testimonial from Lopes more than I do a few graphs on Twitter.
And it gives me a little optimism, if only a little.
Sky Sports understands that the 21-year-old could be announced as a Spurs’ player later today. He will join on an initial 18-month loan, and we have an option to buy him permanently for £56m at the end of the 2020-21 season.
The journo is right. He has been highly regarded since a young age. A bit like Kantè or Wijnaldum type player. He is versatile which is a good thing of course. Good engine and a decent player.
Would be good to think that is what happened. More likely the agents who represent this guy and who are Portuguese and well known to Mourinho saw Spurs are in trouble and short of players all over the field and offered their client.
Fernandes is definitely a Jose inspired signing so I would assume Jose knows much more about him. He would have done his homework before initiating the hijack of the deal.
Now you’re scaring me. 😄
Might explain why we see so little of LoCelso, a few minutes here and there.
😀😊👍👍
There is no such thing as a free lunch. If something seems to good to be true then it probably isn’t.
Quick, strong and a bit skillful are good qualities but if Johnny two Saints could pass a bar like he could a football, he’d be a world beater. Not PL ready, young, can’t hold down a starting spot in his team and nobody else is apparently after him – does this ring alarm bells? Does this guy have a back story? Why was his old man grinning in that photo – does he know something?
Loving the archive articles in the sidebar Harry, especially the one which says “Sherwood Has 3 Games To Save His Job”. Which club was that for?
Ahh, the good old (found under) Benches and Hedges. Are they still a thing? (asking for a friend).
Reminds me of the story involving Sugar ,Venables and some player Spurs had bought . If the player reached a certain quota of games then Spurs had to fork out extra , End of Season and meaningless but Venables played the guy , Sugar went Ballistic. Brown Envelope Anyone ?
Other reports state that Spurs must make the deal permanent if he plays 50 per cent of the games over the 18 months at £56m.
Promise is great, keeps us watching, but at one time there was no more promising player in world football than Lucas Moura, talent wise he was mentioned as being on a par with Neymar Junior. He’s a nice player, just doesn’t seem able to get all that skill to work on the pitch. Here’s hoping for Gedson.
It’s a loan with an option to buy, so full transfer may never happen. To put things in perspective, we supposedly still pay Newcastle £6 million a year for Sissoko. Portuguese news outlets have said we’re paying Benfica either 1.5 or 4.5 million euros in rental. What is puzzling is the lack of interest from other clubs. The Portuguese League is a happy hunting ground for talent.
This is crazy. £56 million for a kid who has made 23 appearances for Benfica and has 2 Portugal caps. The world has gone mad.
All you really need to know is he’s not a regular started in the Portuguese league and there’s a better Fernandes that should be being pursued but this is obvious dictated by money. Again.
Exactly, he can’t get in the Benfica side at the moment.
Doesn’t mean he’s no good or won’t end up being good. It means that right now, he’s certainly no world beater. Is Winks now toast?
Awaiting the Levy spin that the Ropey League Is suddenly a great nursery competition in which to develop a new young crop of players. Under a manager who’s never developed a young side in his whole career.
The club’s PR dept have always been audacious, now they’ll be insulting our intelligence…
Another Danny Rose Google job. Why are benfica looking shot of him worries me. He can have the talent of Ronaldo but if he has the attitude of adebayor we could have problems. Hopefully not.