Bruno Fernandes has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur were leading the race to sign him before he eventually joined Manchester United.
The Portugal international midfielder was tipped as a possible replacement for Christian Eriksen last summer, with Sky Sports reporting that we met with Fernandes and his representatives only to go cold on a deal.
Six months later, Fernandes moved to Old Trafford for an initial cost of £47m – fee via the Metro – and made an instant impact in the Premier League, scoring two goals and assisting three more in five matches prior to lockdown to give United a major boost.
He could have been doing that for us had we followed up our interest…
“The first club that was close to signing me was Tottenham,’ Fernandes said on Instagram Live, according to the Metro. “With Pochettino…But I don’t know maybe they thought the amount Sporting wanted was too much so in that moment Sporting decide they don’t want to sell.
“Tottenham came in the summer but Manchester [United] was in January. Maybe Tottenham came again in January but when I knew Manchester was interested I just wanted to talk to Manchester.
“Manchester was my dream team in England so I am happy because I have the chance to go to a team that I always [dreamed about] you know.
“At that time [last summer] it was Tottenham that was closer to me. There was other teams from France, one team from the Spanish league but for me when I talked the first team was Manchester.”
A lot of people think that Paulo Dybala was the one that got away last summer, but it was Fernandes in my opinion. The Dybala deal seemed so difficult to do whereas Fernandes was there for the taking and we let him slip away. He will make us regret that at United, for sure.
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The Bruno Fernandes deal definitely could have been done last summer. We should have gone for the one we knew we could get. But am I the only one that thinks this is precisely why we went for Dybala instead? So that we could come so close and “show ambition” but ultimately come up short because of some 3rd party agreements. It cones down to the simple truth that Levy didn’t want to spend the money. He pulled the wool over our eyes again. We all remember the exact same thing happened with Moutinho when AVB was manager?
I don’t believe we were ever intending to buy Gedson for £50m. We just needed more bodies in and this was a deal that “could be done”.
Amen.
It’s a cheap shot, but you’ve captured Levynomics… so utterly depressing
Never mind the Clinton cards, fat Vinny and N’Clueless, here is a list recent players that we extensively scouted and either offered the selling club a derisory sum, or Levy decided in his infinite wisdom as a wannabe star player spotter, that he didn’t rate them or just decided to buy a cheaper version.
Harry Maguire, Sheff Utd and Hull, James Maddison, Coventry and Norwich, David Brooks, Sheff Utd, Jack Grealish, Aston Villa, Youri Tielemans, Monaco, Bruno Fernandes, Sporting Lisbon, Paulo Dybala, Juventus, Ricardo Pereira, Porto and Nice, Sadio Mane, Southampton, Ross Barkley, Everton, Mateo Kovacic, Real Madrid, Willian, some unpronounceable Russian team. I know there are plenty of others but all of these players were in our price range with the possible exception of Dybala. Levy is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.
The extraordinary thing about the Gelson Fernandes deal is that if we buy him it works out dearer than Bruno who has already hit the ground running whereas we have a lad who seems like a project, one of those promising players who never deliver, of which we have had far too many. Taarabt, John Bostock, Giovani dos Santos, and many many more who don’t come to mind. I’m sure you have you’re own favourites.
I really wanted both Lo Celso and Fernandes at Spurs but Levy told me I was too greedy and to go and support Man U if I wanted to watch him. I told the useless gnome that I grew up watching Spurs when they were great and won things.
Another good example of our continuous failure in the transfer market. Indecisive, prevaricating, cheap skating, allowing good players to sign elsewhere for better managed clubs. Never mind, we can console ourselves that we have an option to buy a Fernandes, Gelson! Whatever we think of Chelsea, they act decisively and quickly to secure their targets, quite often at our expense. We persist with Levy’s flawed strategy. He never learns.