Mauricio Pochettino factor cannot be ignored as Manchester United secure major victory in Bruno Fernandes deal

If Bruno Fernandes proves worth the wait, Manchester United will be more than happy to pay his £68m fee in full.

For that to happen they will have returned to the Champions League promised land, possibly re-established themselves as kings of Europe and at long last filled the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo.

If that sounds like a lot of pressure to be heaped on the 25-year-old’s shoulders – those are the terms of his drawn-out deal, which is on the verge of being completed.

United were always adamant they would not meet Sporting Lisbon’s valuation of £55m plus £13m in add-ons.

The Portuguese club, meanwhile, were never happy with United’s incentivised offer of £38m plus, what were deemed, unrealistic bonus payments.

As expected, a compromise was reached, which will only see Sporting get their full asking price if Fernandes wins the Ballon d’Or as well as other personal achievements.

A Champions League triumph is also believed to be included.

And – if he proves the catalyst for such success – there will be no complaints from within Old Trafford if they have to stump up the extra cash.

United reached a significant breakthrough in negotiations on Tuesday night which will see them pay €55m up front (£46.6m) and a further €10m based on appearances and Champions League qualification.

Those are the ‘achievable’ add-ons.

An extra €15m will be dependent on clauses including Fernandes being the crowned the best player in the world, which hasn’t been done since Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or in 2008.

They can be considered the more ambitious targets – but ones that insulate United from being seen to overpay, which they feared would be so damaging to their summer business, with James Maddison and Jadon Sancho high on their wanted list.

How high Fernandes was in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s thoughts before this month, remains debatable.

United’s interest first emerged as far back as March last year. Yet with the Portugal international available all summer, they failed to lodge an official bid – and grew increasingly frustrated by what they saw to be Sporting’s attempts to use them to drive up the player’s price.

Sporting’s desire to cash in has been one remaining constant – and a deal could have been struck at around £38m during that window.

Had Real Madrid come in with an offer of around £150m for Paul Pogba, the suspicion is United would have firmed up their interest.

Instead, they were prepared to risk Tottenham winning the race for him, with Mauricio Pochettino eyeing a move.

The Pochettino factor is one that cannot be ignored now. While club insiders are adamant Ed Woodward and the Glazers remain totally committed to the Solskjaer project – signing a player admired by the overwhelming candidate to be United’s next manager removes a lot of the risk.

There was plenty of satisfaction within United when a breakthrough was finally reached.

Interest from Barcelona is not thought to have been a consideration, instead they remained resolute in their determination not to be held to ransom – no matter how desperate Solskjaer was for extra bodies.

And while the decision to allow negotiations to drag on to the end of a month that has seen Solskjaer’s side lose three out of four Premier League games, and stand on the verge of elimination from the Carabao Cup, there is a sense within the club that they won their stand-off.

Sporting were holding out for their full asking price – with the Portuguese giants in need of the funds.

One source familiar with them, said: “This deal is really bad for Sporting.”

But just how good will it be for United?

How much better would their season have been if they’d had the prolific midfielder in from the start?

In Solskjaer’s defence, he couldn’t have accounted for Pogba’s injury-plagued season.

At the same time, could he really have expected such an outstanding campaign from Scott McTominay or Fred’s emergence after a miserable first year in English football?

That a deal wasn’t lined up for January 1 – with United instead trying to secure the signature of Erling Braut Haaland. It suggests Fernandes wasn’t a priority for this window.

Yet Solskjaer has been adamant throughout an injury-ravaged month that there would be no panic buys and only long-term targets would be considered for permanent deals.

A quick fix, he is not – which is just as well, given the amount of time it has taken to finally bring him to the point of signing.

He is expected in Manchester over the next 48 hours to complete the formalities of his move.

Then will come the obligatory photo call with his new shirt.

What are the chances of a recently vacated No7 being handed his way – just like Ronaldo?

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