Details emerge over Alvaro Fernandez’s move to Benfica and it’s good news for United

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SL Benfica have now signed the contracts that will see Manchester United left-back Alvaro Fernandez join the Portuguese giants, according to reports.

The deal to take Alvaro Fernandez to SL Benfica has accelerated rather quickly with terms now being agreed between the two sides and a deal looks to be in the offing.

United sent the Spanish left-back on loan to La Liga side Granada but despite the 20-year-old looking promising in patches, he wasn’t consistently starting for the team so the Red Devils brought him back.

Fernandez has not been treated well by the Red Devils and there is an argument to be made that United should have kept him due to the injury crisis that was developing in his position earlier this campaign.

Fernandez deal details

Well, as mentioned, the Portuguese side are now closing in on a deal with seemingly just the official announcement all that remains.

Fabrizio Romano has confirmed as much with his post on X stating that the contracts have been signed. There were some worries that United were going to lose the Spaniard for a relatively small amount, but this is no longer the case.

Romano claims that the deal is a loan but the Portuguese giants have the option to sign the defender for £5 million but will be obligated to buy him if he plays more than 50% of their games for the remainder of the season.

There is also a sell-on clause inserted into the deal.

This does seem like a small amount for Benfica to pay United but Romano also goes on to claim that the deal will include a buyback clause as well as a first refusal option for the Red Devils if another team comes in for him.

A first-refusal deal is relatively simple. If another team wants to buy Fernandez and make an offer, Benfica will have to inform United who will have a choice to either match the terms on offer or allow him to move elsewhere.

United got a good deal

Despite the raft of criticism that the Red Devils received for agreeing to this deal, as more and more comes out about the terms of the agreement, the better the club look.

Whether Ineos and Sir Jim Ratcliffe have had anything to do with this is not known but either way, the Red Devils have done very well from this deal.

It’s unclear how much the buyback clause would be set at but United have salvaged a good deal from a bad one with this clause inserted.