Seven years ago this summer, Mauricio Pochettino told Tottenham to sign a Sporting playmaker named Bruno Fernandes. Sporting refused. Six months later, Fernandes signed for Manchester United, and he has been there ever since.

Now the two are about to be reunited. Pochettino has struck a verbal agreement in principle to become United head coach, with United executives having met co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe in Monaco this week to finalise the switch.

Michael Carrick, appointed interim manager at the start of the season, is expected to be formally informed of his dismissal on Thursday, with Pochettino lined up to replace him. The Argentine remains contracted to the United States men’s national team, who are entitled to a £7m release clause to let him go.

2019: ‘He was the one who wanted me there’

Pochettino’s pursuit of Fernandes at Tottenham was not a passing interest. Fernandes himself has said the then Spurs manager drove the move personally.

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“Obviously I wanted to go to the Premier League. The [Tottenham] manager, Mauricio Pochettino, was the one who wanted me there,” Fernandes told The Athletic, in comments revisited this week by Yahoo Sports.

He has also said he was “really angry” when Sporting rejected the Tottenham offer the day before their president spoke to him. Fernandes stayed in Lisbon until January 2020, when United signed him in a deal that has defined his career.

Captain, 32, and not for sale

Fernandes, now 32, wears the United captain’s armband and remains the club’s most productive attacking player. His contract runs to 2027 with a club option for a further year.

A release clause of £57m sits in that contract, according to Sky Sports, though it is only available to clubs outside the English top flight. That has been enough to tempt Saudi Arabian interest in the past.

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United’s position is settled. The club told Fernandes earlier in 2026 that he would not be sold “under any circumstances”, a stance set after an £80m approach from Al-Nassr and reported by The Sun.

A midfielder to build around

That decision now becomes Pochettino’s to inherit. He built his Tottenham side around an attacking midfielder in Dele Alli and shaped Cole Palmer into an England regular at Chelsea, and the history he has with Fernandes points one way.

United sit 18th in the Premier League after 10 matches, which is what prompted Ratcliffe and the executive team to move during the international break. Pochettino is expected to remain with the United States for their two Haiti friendlies before taking charge, with his first game in English football likely to come away at Liverpool.

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