Sporting Lisbon midfielder Bruno Fernandes was tipped to leave the club this summer transfer window, with Manchester United and Liverpool being touted as his possible destinations. But none of those moves materialised and the Portuguese international is still at Sporing, but that could change soon as Real Madrid are reportedly interested in signing him and strengthening their midfield.
According to AS, Fernandes has been offered by Sporting Lisbon to Real Madrid in a bid to cash in on the midfielder’s fantastic 2018-19 season. The report states that the Portuguese club want €70 million for him and have asked super-agent Jorge Mendes to make the deal happen.
The report further states that Sporting will not lower their asking price as Spurs found out when they offered €60 million for the player in this summer. Fernandes scored 32 goals last season, which attracted interest from several top clubs. He has gotten off to a good start in the 2019-20 season, scoring one and assisting one in two games.
A good option for the club?
Real Madrid have spent over €300 million in this transfer window but will need to add more players to their squad to compete with Barcelona for the La Liga title. The Spanish giants need a midfielder who can scores goals from midfield, which Fernandes has been very good at in recent times.
Manager Zinedine Zidane’s first-choice midfielders are Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, and Casemiro, with Isco an option in the attacking midfield role but none of them is as productive as the Portuguese. The Madrid manager does not have too many other options in midfield which makes the deal to sign Bruno Fernandes a sensible one as Madrid will be strengthened significantly.
Following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, Madrid struggled to score goals last season, scoring 30 goals lesser than the previous season with Ronaldo. The addition of Fernandes, who scored 32 goals in all competitions and provided 18 assists, will help fill that void that Ronaldo left to an extent, while the likes of Eden Hazard and Karim Benzema can also score consistently thus sharing the load.
At 24 years of age, Fernandes is a player for the present and the future at Real Madrid, and a fee of €70 million seems like a bargain when compared to the transfer fees paid by other clubs for far lesser players. Real Madrid and Zidane should make Fernandes’s signing a priority especially given the fact that chances of acquiring Paul Pogba are looking unlikelier by the day.