MANUEL FERNANDES (FOOTBALLER BORN 1986)

'Manuel Henriques Tavares Fernandes' (born 5 February, 1986 in Lisbon), called 'Manuel Fernandes' (pron. ) for short, is a Portuguese footballer currently contracted to Valencia CF.

Contents

Clubs

Benfica

Portsmouth

Everton

Valencia CF

Trivia

Notes

External links

Clubs

Manuel Fernandes is a product of Benfica's youth system who made his first-team debut during the 2003/04 season, under then-coach José Antonio Camacho. A defensive midfielder, he made an immediate impression on both Camacho and the Benfica supporters and became the club's second youngest ever goalscorer in only his second game. In 2003 he was part of the Portugal team that reached the quarter-finals of the FIFA U-17 World Championship before going down to Spain 5-2 in Tampere.

Benfica

He became a regular first team player in the centre of midfield alongside Petit in the 2004/05 season. Under the guidance of Italian manager Giovanni Trapattoni he helped Benfica to win the Superliga. An influential season saw Manuel Fernandes miss just five games as Benfica lifted the championship trophy for the first time in 11 years. He also made seven appearances in the UEFA Cup before the Lisbon outfit were eliminated in the Round of 32 by eventual winners PFC CSKA Moscow.
Having represented Portugal at every level from Under-15 upwards, he made his full international debut in a friendly against the Republic of Ireland in February 2005. A month later, in his second match as a senior player, Manuel Fernandes opened his international goalscoring account by scoring the first goal in a 4-1 friendly win against Canada.^[1]
During the 2005/06 pre-season, Manuel Fernandes underwent surgery in Munich due to an inguinal hernia. He was treated by specialist Dr. Ulrike Muschaweck ^[2].
In the UEFA Champions League 2005-06, Manuel Fernandes scored the equalising goal in a draw at Villarreal CF in the group stage^[3] before Benfica were knocked out in the Quarter-finals by eventual winners FC Barcelona.
In May 2006, Manuel Fernandes played all three games for Portugal U21 in the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. However, his country was knocked out at the group stages, losing twice and winning only one match.
In June 2007, Manuel Fernandes played in all games, and scored the opening goal for Portugal U21 in their 4-0 win over Israel in the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. The team however failed to make the finals.

Portsmouth

Fernandes signed on loan to Portsmouth with a deal agreed for a permanent transfer of approximately £7 million if he fully recovered from his groin injury. A transfer was first proposed in late July 2006 but could not be concluded as Fernandes was still suffering from the injury and failed a club medical twice. In an unusual move, Benfica allowed the player to be treated at Portsmouth in the hope that he would regain fitness before the September 1st transfer deadline. After five weeks at the club, it was projected that he still needed two months recovery and so the initial loan deal with a future fee was agreed.
Fernandes made his Portsmouth debut in the League Cup away to Mansfield Town. He scored from outside the area after just 5 minutes and Portsmouth won 2-1. He went on to make sporadic appearances for the club throughout the first half of the season, with Sean Davis and fellow Portuguese international Pedro Mendes the preferred midfield pairing. It was later revealed by Pompey manager Harry Redknapp that if Fernandes were to make 3 consecutive appearances, it would trigger a clause in which Portsmouth were obligated to sign the player for £12m. Because of the high transfer fee, Portsmouth revealed in December that unless Benfica were to compromise on the fee they would not make the transfer permanent. Fernandes returned to Benfica in the winter transfer window.

Everton

In January 2007, Fernandes joined Everton F.C. on loan until the end of the season.^[4] The deal was complicated by Fernandes being part owned by a third party agency, but he eventually made an assured debut for his new club in the 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers on February 10th 2007 and quickly became something of a fans favourite at Goodison. He scored his first league goal for the club on February 24th against Watford. On April 28th 2007, Fernandes scored his second Everton goal against league leaders Manchester United. The goal, although spectacular, was not enough as Manchester United would go on to score 4 times in the final half hour of the game, winning 4-2.
With Everton manager David Moyes reluctant to pay Benfica's reported £12 million asking price, Fernandes returned to Benfica in 2007, where he had several good performances during the pre-season. On August 8th 2007 it was reported that Everton had made an offer of £6 million for Fernandes.^[5]
On August 13, 2007, it was confirmed by both Everton FC and SL Benfica that Fernandes was the subject of a bid from Everton which was accepted. The bid was believed to be £6 million for Benfica's 50% share in the player, Everton having to negotiate with Global Sports Investment for the other half of Fernandes' playing rights. Later reports indicated Everton was willing to pay £12 million for 100% of the rights.^[6] On August 14th, it was reported that he had flown to the Merseyside to complete the deal after being left out of the squad in Benfica's game, and he attended Everton's match against Blackburn Rovers on August 25. However, on August 26 Fernandes opted to sign a six-year contract for Valencia in a deal worth up to £10 million to Benfica, with Global Sports Investment keeping their 50% share.^[7]

Valencia CF

Fernandes moved to Valencia CF in August 2007 for a fee of £12 million on a six year deal with a 60 million euro get out clause.^[8][9] The move astonished Everton officals as Fernandes had verbally agreed to join Everton, and was even watching their match with Blackburn Rovers from the stands on 25 August.
He made his debut as a substitution during a 2-1 away win against UD Almería on 2 September 2007.

Trivia

★ Fernandes regularly played street football with Manchester United winger Nani as a child.^[10]

★ Whilst playing for Benfica he earned the nicknamed 'Manelelé', following comments from Jose Mourinho stating that Fernandes was better than French midfielder Claude Makelele at the same age.^[11]

★ Global Sports Agency owned 50% of Manuel Fernandes transfer rights, during his time at S.L. Benfica. This is one of thes reason as to why his potential transfer to Everton FC, had become so complicated. Another reason is because the English Premier League did not agree to the transfer as Everton would only half own Fernandes' contract. Everton were not too happy about this as the Premier League had let Anderson, Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano move to other Premier League clubs under the same agreements.

Notes

1. Portugal Defeats Canada 4-1 canadasoccer.com, March 26, 2005
2. Manuel Fernandes operado de surpresa, DN Online 2005-07-09
3. Benfica draws with Villarrael in Champions' League People's Daily Online, October 20, 2005
4. Everton bypass league conflict to complete Fernandes deal The Guardian, February 1, 2007
5. http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=51022]
6. [1]
7. [2]
8. Fernandes snubs Everton for Spain
9. VALENCIA CF SIGNS PORTUGUESE INTERNATIONAL PLAYER MANUEL FERNANDES
10. http://www.uefa.com/magazine/news/kind=16384/newsid=547407.html]
11. http://en.uefa.com/magazine/news/kind=16384/newsid=406366.html
]

External links

★

★ BBC profile

★ [3] - 26 August 2007

★ Goal.com profile