In ordinary circumstances, selling Bruno Fernandes, the only successful Manchester United signing of the post Sir Alex Ferguson era, is beyond unthinkable.
But to get £100m for a soon-to-be 31-year-old changes the dynamic entirely. One other major benefit to a potentially seismic sale could be avoiding all-out mutiny should the skipper abandon a sinking ship.
The i Paper understands Fernandes is giving serious consideration to joining the Saudi Pro League’s most successful club, Al-Hilal, in an astonishing nine-figure deal, with a £200m contract offer on the table to entice the Portuguese playmaker to the Middle East.
Fernandes’ agent Miguel Pinho met with Al-Hilal officials on Thursday to discuss the potential deal that will send ruptures through United’s fanbase.
It is understood that Fernandes and United must make a decision within a week as Al-Hilal want their new arrival to play in the upcoming Club World Cup.
United’s stance remains unchanged: they do not want to sell their star player. Coach Ruben Amorim wants to build his restoration project around his fellow countryman.
Only Kevin De Bruyne has registered more assists in the Premier League than Fernandes since he joined from Sporting in 2020, all for a failing team.
The size of the offer, however, has turned heads in the United boardroom. United desperately need to sell to give Amorim the funds to complete his essential squad revamp, with every player effectively up for sale for the right price.
Fernandes was thought to be exempt from that. There will be huge resistance from large sections of the fanbase, but if Fernandes departs, it will almost certainly mean Kobbie Mainoo stays put, several sources said, preventing all-out rebellion.
Defeat in the Europa League final to Tottenham cost Amorim upwards of £100m in transfer funds, more when you consider how the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules are calculated.
Player sales are therefore an absolute necessity. The club, after an unfathomably disastrous season, do not have too many sellable assets, not ones who can command the kind of fee that can be used to reinvest in top talent to drag them from their slumber.
That led to fears Mainoo, a popular figure among fans having showcased talent severely lacking in other areas of the team, could be sacrificed, with Chelsea keeping tabs on his situation.
Amorim is not completely convinced by Mainoo, with the 20-year-old barely featuring in the latter stages of United’s horror season. The new coach wants his players to be all action, high intensity, especially in midfield, fearing Mainoo does not possess the engine to be part of his red revolution.
He is, however, aware of Mainoo’s talent, and admitted on several occasions that he is just yet to find the right role for the Stockport-born midfielder, with selling Mainoo not on Amorim’s radar.
The club are reluctantly open to offers, but the Fernandes money means they will be less tempted. New co-owners Ineos are aware that allowing both Fernandes and Mainoo to leave could tip a fanbase already teetering towards storming their Carrington training base over the edge.
Alejandro Garnacho remains on course for a £50m exit. Napoli are in talks with United officials over a potential sale. Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Antony – who all spent the last part of the campaign out on loan – are three others the club expect to cash in on.
All five exits would give United an extra £250m, if valuations are met, to spend on new arrivals.
In another life, local sculptors would be sharpening their chisels for a Fernandes statue to be erected in front of the Stretford End.
Fernandes has carried an underperforming team – the antithesis of everything he saw in the brochure – since he walked through the door.
His attacking production numbers defy logic in a team who have lurched from one disaster to the next. Several former players have been critical of Fernandes’ leadership style, but all you have to do is watch the rare occasion when the influential skipper is not on the pitch to realise his indispensable worth.
Nonetheless, even at a global behemoth like United, money talks. If the player does want to go – and no decision is made yet – recovering £100m for a player on the downward descent from optimum peak is remarkable business.
Trusting United to reinvest that money – even the supposed expert-fronted new regime has had limited success in the transfer market – is another issue. The money, if the right players are identified, can have a transformative effective, given the fee received and £280,000-a-week saved in wages.
The player and supporters will be unhappy they never got to say goodbye. But this is the very definition of a one-time offer. One that, for all parties, will be very difficult to turn down.
Instead of a statue being unveiled in tribute to their departing captain, Fernandes being substituted with United losing to a Hong Kong XI on a pointless post season tour would be a fitting end to a move that promised so much, but delivered so little, through no fault of his own.
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