After weeks of negotiation, a deal between Manchester United and Bruno Fernandes is yet to be finalized despite both parties' willingness to accommodate each other. United has made the requested adjustment in payment terms and the Portuguese transfer target has already expressed interest to make the jump to Old Trafford.
The latest offer from the Red Devils now stands at €55 million and bonus possibilities of up to €10 million. Fernandes will have access to the extra cash if United will be the Premier League champions and will do the same in the Champions League.
Another condition for the additional payment is that Fernandes must finish in the Top 3 of the Ballon d'Or race, Metro reported.
These terms in the contract offered by United seemed amenable to the Portugal international, and it is believed the final signing is slated to happen anytime in the week. However, there is still a chance that the transfer deal could be scuttled.
Should that happen, the key issue is money and not because Fernandes or Sporting Lisbon is asking for more money to flow. It would seem that the deal could collapse, and the blame finger can be pointed to super-agent Jorge Mendes.
According to Daily Star, Mendes has managed to insert himself in the Fernandes transfer negotiations with the English club and could be the reason Sporting had asked for a higher payment. It could be that Mendes had asked for a sizeable cut of the payment terms and the cost the Portuguese club would like to pass on to United.
That was the reading offered by journalist Dharmesh Sheth, who proposed Sporting is "trying to cover what they'd have to pay Mendes in the amount they want from United."
"Despite not being involved in negotiations over Bruno Fernandes, there's a suggestion that Mendes would still want to be paid as per his agreement with Sporting ... That could be the reason as to why Sporting have changed the goalposts with regard to price and structure of payment," Sheth was reported as saying.
The reporter further speculated that these money questions were the reasons the Fernandes transfer deal stalled. It appeared United is standing on its ground and refused to shoulder the fees demanded by Mendes from Sporting.
The move was backed by former United striker Gibson, who suggested that if indeed an agent fee is required, this has to come from the player's pocket and not from the buying or selling team.
For his part, United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has stated that he will refuse to pay inflated prices on deals that will largely be advantageous to agents, stressing that, "we don't want to inflate the prices ... I think that is important - that we use common sense."
