With reports claiming that south coast rivals Southampton and Bournemouth are both looking to land Manchester City midfielder Fernando this summer, it now appears that Newcastle United are very much in pole postion.
Rafa Benitez has identified the Brazilian star as a player he needs and the Toon hierarchy are working on the deal as we speak. Man City are rumoured to want £8million for the anchorman but given that he is now 29 and made just 5 Premier League starts last season, the price is likely to be closer to £5million.
Fernando has only one year left on his contract at the Etihad – another bargaining chip for Rafa, and the former Porto man is very likely to find a new home before long. With Jack Colback not considered good enough for the Premier League under Rafa Benitez and Vurnon Anita having now left the club, Newcastle have only Jonjo Shelvey and Isaac Hayden left as deeper lying central midfield players and this is a problem Fernando could solve.
Much to the annoyance of Newcastle fans last term, a lot was expected of Jonjo Shelvey when it came to getting Newcastle moving forward up the pitch and Rafa knows very well that this cannot be allowed to be the case by the time the Premier League kicks off in August. Fernando’s pass completion rate is up near 90% in the Premier League and so getting the team going forward with him playing in deep areas would not be an issue.
There is a suggestion that interest in the likes of Fernando and Lucas Leiva means Newcastle will end their interest in Fulham’s expensive Tom Cairney, but not so in my opinion. Cairney is seen by Rafa as someone who can fill his understanding of the no.10 role – a player so fit and expansive that he is a midfield player when the opposition has the ball but a proper no.10 when his own side are in possession.
To achieve that though, Newcastle need defensive midfield solidarity too and in Fernando, they couldn’t realistically wish for better. Despite averaging a paltry 37 minutes per Premier League game last season, the Brazilian averaged 1.4 tackles, 0.9 interceptions and 2.1 clearances. So you can imagine what those figures would look like when given more starts.
Fernando would add some much-needed top level quality to the Toon midfield and if the rumours of his imminent signing are true; Newcastle have achieved a very canny signing indeed.
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