Bruno Fernandes sends Manchester Utd’s £51m transfer ‘alternative’ one-word message

Bruno Fernandes made an eye-catching social media post on Saturday night while watching his former club, Sporting, play in the Portuguese Super Cup.

Four-and-a-half years have passed since Manchester United signed the midfielder, but the Lisbon-based club is seemingly still close to his heart. That is why Fernandes spent the evening watching his country’s equivalent of the Community Shield on television.

Sporting was participating after winning the Primera Liga last season. But despite finishing ten points clear of city rivals Benfica and another eight ahead of Porto, like Manchester City, they did not do the double, losing the Portuguese Cup final 2-1 to the latter.

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Barely two months on, as will be the case for City and United at Wembley Stadium next weekend, the two teams met again. Fernandes was ready and waiting for kick-off, sharing a photo of his TV screen of him as the game began on his Instagram story of him, adding green and white-Sporting’s colours-heart emojis to the image.

Six minutes later, the United skipper had reason to celebrate as Goncalo Inacio headed in a Pedro Goncalves cross to open the scoring. Fernandes captioned a follow-up post “Cotaaaaa,” tagging the player and adding a clapping hands emoji.

The midfielder may not have been the only person associated with United watching, as Inacio is a player the club were credited with an interest earlier this summer. Sporting signed the Portugal international to a new contract until 2027 last summer, with the club publicizing that the player’s release clause had risen from €45 million (£38m) to €60 million (£51m).

United have been open to signing three center-backs this summer, with just one, Leny Yoro, arriving so far. They have seen offers for Jarrad Branthwaite and Matthijs de Ligt rejected, but Inacio would be considerably cheaper than the former, with Everton wanting £70 million. Bayern reputedly want €50 million (£43m) for De Ligt.