Manchester United invested heavily in Bruno Fernandes in 2020, but have not paid the full fee for his signature.
Ever since he made his Manchester United debut, Bruno Fernandes has looked the part at Old Trafford.
As of June 2025, Fernandes has gone on to play 290 games for the club, scoring 98 goals, and looks destined to round up those figures after turning down transfer interest.
Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal offered Fernandes a lucrative pay rise, which he turned down, explaining how he still has ambitions to achieve at Manchester United.
Now the Manchester United captain, Fernandes is a key player for head coach Ruben Amorim for the future.
Bruno Fernandes runs with the ball for Manchester United, 2020
Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images
Bruno Fernandes add-on clauses
Bruno Fernandes signed for Manchester United in January 2020, after speculation the club were interested the previous summer.
United paid an initial £46.6 million to Sporting for his services. At the time that looked like a shrewd investment, especially considering United’s track record of overpaying for players.
As is so often the case, Manchester United negotiated add-on payments with Sporting, which allowed the Red Devils to pay just a moderate initial fee.
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These add-ons took the ceiling of the deal to £67.7 million, but as we will explore, these have not all been paid.
A report in The Times laid out the various add-on clauses, which are listed below.
£840,000 for every five starts Fernandes makes, up until he reaches 25 starts.
£4.23 million if Manchester United qualify for the Champions League once between 2020-2025
£4.23 million if Fernandes finishes in the top three in the Ballon d’Or
£4.23 million if Fernandes wins the PFA Player of the Year Award
The final two clauses can be paid out at a maximum of three times, capped at £12.7 million.
Bruno Fernandes’ current cost
Only a handful of these add-ons have been activated, meaning United have not reached the potential £67.7 million payout.
Manchester United have instead paid a total of £55.03 million to Sporting for Fernandes.
Fernandes made 25 starts for the club pretty swiftly, giving Sporting a £4.2 million payout in 2020.
And this was followed by Fernandes helping United qualify for the Champions League for the 2020/21 season, after a third placed finish.
This took the additional payout to Sporting to £8.43 million.
Despite Fernandes’ brilliance, he has never won the PFA Player of the Year Award. Between 2020 and 2025 this has been won by Kevin de Bruyne, Mo Salah, Phil Foden and Erling Haaland.
And amid heavy competition, Fernandes has not come close to the top three in Ballon d’Or voting honours.
The highest Fernandes has placed was in 2021, when he was voted in joint 21st place, alongside Lautaro Martinez.
In each of these cases, Fernandes has been penalized for Manchester United’s lack of team success. His efforts have been remarkably impressive in the context.
This past season for instance, Fernandes scored 19 goals to finish as the team’s top scorer, and 19 goals to lead the team in assists.