Tottenham have won the race to sign Mateus Fernandes from West Ham after submitting an £85million bid to sign the player, a fee Man Utd wouldn’t match.
Manchester United refused to match Tottenham’s £85million bid for Mateus Fernandes after judging it outside of their valuation of West Ham’s 21-year-old midfielder.
United have pushed hard to sign Fernandes, who emerged as their top midfield target after they pulled out of the race to sign Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest, but it is Spurs who look set to land the one-cap Portugal international.
United were unwilling to match that bid, which meets West Ham’s asking price for a player they signed from Southampton for £38million last season.
Old Trafford sources also claimed that it wasn’t clear which club Fernandes wanted to sign for this summer. United made it a key cornerstone of their transfer strategy last year to focus on players who wanted to play for the club, but insiders claim it wasn’t clear throughout the process whether that was the case with Fernandes.
The decision not to rival Tottenham for the signature of Fernandes means United have now missed out on both of their leading midfield targets this summer. Manchester City have agreed a £116million deal to sign Anderson from Nottingham Forest.
Despite the latest setback to their plans to reshape the midfield this summer, United remain confident they will strengthen in that area and take encouragement from their transfer record last summer, when they remained patient to land Senne Lammens, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko for a spend of around £235million.
They have already agreed a deal to sign Ederson from Atalanta for an initial £35million this summer, with the Brazilian midfielder set to complete his move once his country are out of the World Cup.
United will now turn their attention to other midfield targets. They have an interest in Bournemouth’s Alex Scott and continue to admire Brighton’s Carlos Baleba.
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