MANCHESTER UNITED’S hopes of signing Bruno Fernandes were given a boost as Sporting Lisbon fear they will lose their star man.
Last night the 25-year-old playmaker captained his side in their 1-0 win at home Maritimo.
And afterwards, Sporting boss Silas admitted that Manchester United could finally match or get close to the 68million asking price for their prized asset.
When asked about keeping Fernandes, Silas said: “I hope so, but I don’t know. Bruno is a special player.
“I can’t confirm if it was his last game. I would like Bruno to stay and I wish I could count on him until the end of the season, but I can’t say whether he stays or not.
“Bruno is a different player and he sees things that nobody sees. Diagonal movements, long passes. Any team that has Bruno and loses him would be resentful.
“We will be resentful if we lose him. And if we do, we will have to find solutions.”
Sporting have been playing hardball over their valuation, but finally they appear to be willing to drop their asking price by 9m to get a deal done by Friday’s deadline.
As reported by SunSport last week, United offered 42.5m up front with a further 8.5m in add-ons.
But according to reports in Lisbon, Sporting will strike a deal if they can get 46.5m and then another 12.5m in add-ons.
That package, worth 59m, is 25m more than Tottenham offered last summer.
The major stumbling block for executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward in getting a deal finalised is the fact that the Portuguese side borrowed against the sale of Fernandes last summer and will only get around 50 per cent of any fee.
With Fernandes being the standout talent in Portugal, there is no surprise that Sporting want to squeeze every Euro out of him, either.
But last night there were also no signs of Fernandes suffering from being at the centre of the transfer window’s longest-running saga at all, as he was on a different player to his team-mates against Maritimo.
