Man City are reportedly closing in on the signing of Sporting Lisbon midfielder Bruno Fernandes in a deal worth €50m plus a player in exchange.
The 24-year-old has been in stunning form this season, scoring 31 goals and providing 17 assists in 50 appearances for the Portuguese giants.
With those figures in mind, it’s no surprise that he has attracted interest from elsewhere, with Calciomercato reporting via A Bola, that talks between Man City and Sporting are at an advanced stage for a €50m deal plus Marlos Moreno moving to Portugal as part of the deal.
Given that the 22-year-old has been shipped out on loan four times since joining City in 2016, it’s highly unlikely that the reigning Premier League champions are going to miss him too much and so the switch would make sense for them.
It’s a potentially crucial addition for City too, with Fernandes arguably an ideal long-term replacement for David Silva who turns 34 next year and will enter the last year of his current contract next season.
As per the Daily Mail, the Spanish playmaker has also been linked with an exit to join Vissel Kobe, and so the addition of Fernandes could in fact see him emerge as a more immediate replacement.
Given his technical quality and his obvious eye for goal as well as his creativity in the final third, he would arguably fit in perfectly at the Etihad in Pep Guardiola’s preferred style of play, and so it remains to be seen if a deal is done which sees him arrive in Manchester this summer.
