Manchester United have reportedly come in with an improved bid worth a total of €80million including add-ons and bonuses in order to try to beat Tottenham to the transfer of Bruno Fernandes.
The Sporting Lisbon midfielder is attracting huge amounts of interest this summer after a superb season in Portugal, in which he scored 28 goals and laid on 14 assists to his team-mates in all competitions.
MORE: Manchester United could rival Prem club for transfer of young player of the year winner
The latest from the print edition of Jornal de Noticias, as translated by Sport Witness, is that Man Utd are now offering a deal worth an initial fee of €70m plus a potential further €10m.
Spurs, meanwhile, are said in the piece to have offered only €68m, so it may be that United are now making real headway in terms of getting this exciting potential signing done.
The Red Devils need more quality and creativity in midfield after some inconsistent performances from Paul Pogba down the years, while there could also be a vacancy in a more advanced midfield role as Juan Mata is nearing the end of his contract at Old Trafford.
It will be interesting to see if Sporting now accept MUFC’s offer or if this saga is drawn out any longer.
Speaking about his future earlier this week, Fernandes told Sport Mediaset, as translated by the Mirror: ‘If the opportunity comes to go to a team that you can’t refuse, I’ll talk to Sporting.’
Tottenham will hope they can still win this transfer battle as Christian Eriksen is in the final year of his contract and has been quoted as saying he wants to leave by Ekstra Bladet.