If Manchester United thought their Saturday couldn’t go any worse after the home loss to Nottingham Forest, another reminder of a transfer mistake was sent to them in poetic fashion.
On a day when Ruben Amorim’s side huffed and puffed to get over the individual errors and gain something from the Forest game, Alvaro Fernandez starred for FC Benfica.
Not only did he star for the Portuguese team, but his performance coincided with a game United’s left-wingback on the day, Diogo Dalot, won’t look back too fondly on.
Dalot struggled vs Forest and his wayward shot in the 90th minute summed up a frustrating game where he struggled to connect with anything despite finding himself in good positions.
Fernandes, on the other hand, dropped another man of the match display and his stock continues to soar higher and higher.
Alvaro Carreras of SL Benfica with Kaio Cesar of Vitoria SC in action during the Liga Portugal Betclic match between SL Benfica and Vitoria SC at E...
Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty Images
Alvaro Fernandez stars for FC Benfica
Starting as the left-back in name only, Fernandez has been an all-action presence for Benfica throughout the season, with his forays forward making him a dangerous outlet.
That was on full display in Benfica’s 1-0 win against Vitoria, where Kerem Akturkoglu scored the winner but Fernandez took home the man of the match honours.
He was everywhere in attack and defence, playing like a man possessed who was not going to let his team drop points on the day.
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He had 81 touches of the ball and six out of 36 completed passes were in the final third. Four dribbles, four long balls, and a remarkable 11 defensive actions capped off a complete display by Fernandez.
He won 10 duels as he was never afraid of getting stuck in and doing the dirty work when his team didn’t have the ball, showing how far he has come from the Man Utd version of himself.
After the game, he posted his picture with the man of the match award captioned “Juntos”, meaning “together”. Former United player Ethan Galbraith reacted with a fire emoji.
Man Utd’s Alvaro Fernandez transfer and buy-back clause
The one solace United have in seeing Fernandez flourish at Benfica is that they still hold a large power over his future.
Utd’s Fernandez buy-back clause gives them a huge leg-up over their potential rivals for a transfer and even if they don’t go for him, they stand to profit.
That’s because there’s also a sell-on clause in the move that took him to Benfica so United are entitled to a percentage of the profit from the eventual sale.
Amorim has already asked the Man Utd board to buy him a left-back and a dynamic presence at 21 with a prior history at the club could be the ideal man.
So far, United have been linked with Milos Kerkez, Alphonso Davies, and Theo Hernandez the most but Fernandez seems like a no-brainer cheap, and young option who has the potential to reach elite levels.
Amorim will have also seen him firsthand with Sporting in Portugal so while Erik ten Hag never seemed to fancy him much, this move could be reignited with Amorim’s arrival.
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