Manchester United playmaker Bruno Fernandes has reached out to express his admiration of Portugal centre-back Goncalo Inacio.
Goncalo Inacio scored two goals for Portugal in their all-time record 9-0 win over Luxembourg, both from Bruno Fernandes assists.
Fernandes ended up with three assists in total and scored once himself, and was widely praised for his dominant performance.
Inacio told Mais Futebol: “He usually plays good balls, I tried to look for space and the ball ended up falling there.”
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Bruno Fernandes praises Goncalo Inacio
Goncalo Inacio’s admiration for Bruno Fernandes is reciprocated. In fact, the Manchester United star has rated Inacio highly for quite some time.
Fernandes knows Inacio from his time at Sporting, when the young defender eventually making his first team debut the season after the midfielder left to join Manchester United.
But as Sporting pointed out on Instagram, Fernandes is on record talking up Inacio as a big future prospect in 2019, the year before he left for Old Trafford.
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Fernandes responded to this post by thanking Inacio for living up to his prediction, writing: “hank you for not putting my words in vain.”
Goncalo Inacio linked to Manchester United
Manchester United are expected to target signing a centre-back next summer, with Raphael Varane‘s injuries ongoing, and Harry Maguire surely set to be moved on in 2024.
Goncalo Inacio has been linked with Manchester United in recent summers. O Jogo’s front page on May 6 linked Manchester United with a possible move for Inacio, which was also reported by the Evening Standard.
In 2022 newspaper Correia da Manha linked United with a switch, before the club moved to sign Lisandro Martinez instead.
Last month, Inacio made the decision to extend his contract at Sporting, increasing his release clause from £34 million to £51 million, Fabrizio Romano reported.
This is not an obstructive amount, similar to the fee City paid for Ruben Dias in 2020. Still only 22, Inacio has a bright future, with his best days ahead. Importantly, he already has Bruno Fernandes’ approval.