Chelsea are among the clubs interested in the services of Sporting CP’s Bruno Fernandes, it has been claimed.
The Portuguese midfielder has impressed the onlookers of the Liga NOS, with his consistent performances this season and according to A Bola(via SempreMilan), has attracted the interest of several top clubs around Europe, including Chelsea.
However, it is believed that Fernandes has a staggering release clause of €100 million.
Bruno Fernandes: A smart but expensive choice by Sarri
Chelsea’s dismal run of form this month has seen Maurizio Sarri being on the end major criticism from fans and pundits alike.
Along with the Italian mastermind, Jorginho has also been criticized for his underwhelming displays in the holding midfield role. And with Chelsea lacking any reliable option, aside from N’Golo Kante in midfield, the addition of a new central midfielder could be imperative in the upcoming summer transfer window.
Fernandes, in that regard, could be an appealing target, though he may not share the same style of play as Kante and Jorginho per se.
On the contrary, the 24-year-old is more of an attack-minded player, who likes to operate in central midfield or even in the attacking midfield role. And this could be beneficial for Chelsea as Mateo Kovacic’s loan spell at the club will expire at the end of the campaign while Ross Barkley cannot be trusted as a first-team regular on the basis of his displays this season.
Thus, Fernandes can be utilized in the extra midfield slot in Sarri’s 4-3-3, with Jorginho and Kante operating in a deeper role as compared to the Portuguese.
As far as his gameplay is concerned, Fernandes can help ease Chelsea’s transition from midfield to attack, which could be useful especially considering how Jorginho has failed to provide offensive support to the team while Kante is also a better fit in a defensive role.
Thus, the Sporting CP midfielder, in many ways, could be the final piece in the jigsaw as far as Chelsea’s midfield department is concerned.
But, Fernandes’ game is not only restricted to just making the transition as the 24-year-old is a tactically astute player, whose excellent intuition often hands him a positional advantage against his opposition. This tunes in well with Chelsea’s possession-based game under Sarri, which emphasizes a lot on positioning.
However, it’s rather unlikely that Chelsea will be able to get hold of the Portuguese international, with Sporting seemingly reluctant in letting go of their star player, whose €100 million valuation also seems a little too far-fetched for the Blues at the moment.
