Manchester United signed Bruno Fernandes from Sporting Lisbon in the January transfer window, but it didn’t always look as if the Portuguese star would join the Red Devils.
Back in the 2019 summer window, Tottenham Hotspur made the biggest effort to sign the then Sporting Lisbon attacker.
It was revealed that Spurs actually bid for Fernandes, but Sporting decided that the deal was not attractive enough to accept at the time (Standard).
The bid apparently amounted to €65m in total, but $20m of that came in the form of add-ons if Spurs won the Premier League or Champions League.
Fernandes himself later came out and claimed that Tottenham were the only club he had agreed to talk to, as they made a real effort to come and get him (Record).
Sporting vice-president Salgado Zenha has now claimed that Man United went into talks assuming they could get Fernandes for €50m, but ended up paying €65m.
He also added that Sporting wanted €20m more than they would have got last summer, seemingly pointing towards the €45m cash sum offer from Spurs minus the add-ons.
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He told Record: “I realised in the negotiations that Manchester United was convinced that we were going to give in and that for 50 million euros he was doing the deal. Well, they ended up paying €65million.
“They were wrong and ended up paying what we wanted. We went to get 20 million more than if we had sold four months ago.”
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