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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