Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has identified Sporting Lisbon’s captain Bruno Fernandes to replace Marouane Fellaini at Manchester United.
As the season enters the business-end, Manchester United have begun shortlisting their targets for the next season.
One could argue that the club has been relatively slow in their transfer strategies, as teams like Barcelona, Bayern Munich and city rivals Manchester City have already been close to agreeing on deals for their summer targets.
There have been reports that Manchester United will appoint Solskjaer as the permanent manager soon. And so, the Norwegian is actively working on summer transfer targets for the side.
According to Evening Standard, Solskjaer has narrowed down on a replacement for Marouane Fellaini, who left the club in January earlier this year.
Bruno Fernandes to Manchester United?
It has been reported that Manchester United are eyeing a move for Sporting Lisbon’s captain, Bruno Fernandes.
According to the report, Solskjaer believes that the midfield lacks depth after the departure of Fellaini in January.
The current first-team midfield consists of Nemanja Matic, Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba. The replacements for the three midfielders include two academy players in Scott McTominay and Andreas Pereira, and Fred, who has been underwhelming ever since joining the side in the summer.
Fernandes has been brilliant for Sporting Lisbon this season, scoring 13 goals and bagging 10 assists in 25 league games.
The report from Mirror also suggests that Manchester United have cooled down their interest in Barcelona’s Ivan Rakitic, which leaves them free to pursue the Sporting Lisbon player.
Manchester United faced a midfield crisis last month, when the side lost all of their three first-choice midfielders ahead of the game against PSG. However, the bench strength stepped up for the side as United pulled up a dramatic victory over the Parisians in the round-of-16 of the Champions League, cruising into the quarterfinals of the competition.
The side faces another big test in the European competition as they’re drawn with Barcelona. The first leg will take place at Old Trafford on April 10.
How Twitter reacted..
#mufc are considering a move for Bruno Fernandes (Sporting Lisbon). Solskjær has told Woodward he needs at least one ‘high-class’ midfield signing #mulive [evening standard]
— utdreport (@utdreport) March 21, 2019
Seems like United are definitely in for Sporting‘s Bruno Fernandes. He’d add so much creativity and goals to our midfield, lovely player!
— SAMCRO (@VinceVega7) March 21, 2019
Certainly not like-for-like, but United have identified Bruno Fernandes as a target to fill the void left by Fellaini #mufc https://t.co/YD46ZWBLCw
— James Robson (@jamesrobsonES) March 21, 2019
Just did a bit of research on this Bruno Fernandes guy that we have been linked with, and apparently he has 23 goals & 13 assists in 41 games for Sporting Lisbon this season. That’s pretty impressive..
— Ryan. 🔴 (@Vintage_Utd) March 21, 2019
James Robson also reported Koulibaly interest in his article, he’s still our top defensive target. Kalidou Koulibaly, Jadon Sancho and Bruno Fernandes are the 3 players we’re heavily linked with. Let’s see what happens tho.
— Umer. (@uhgfx7) March 21, 2019
What next?
Manchester United returns to action on March 30 as the side takes on Watford in the Premier League.
