Che Strengthen Midfield With Benfica's Fernandes

Goal.com
He won't arrive in time to face Villarreal, but Benfica midfielder Fernandes is en route to Mestalla to pen a six year deal with Los Che...

Valencia will secure the signing of Fernandes tomorrow, the Benfica midfielder set to arrive at the Mestalla in a deal worth between 12 and 15 million euros.

The central midfielder, full name Manuel Henriques Tavares Fernandes, is set to join Los Che for the next six seasons after the Spanish club agreed terms with his club, and then the player, this weekend.

Valencia have been on the lookout for a midfielder for much of the summer, but missed out on Rafael van der Vaart, whose Hamburg paymasters insisted he remain with them for the time being.

Thus Fernandes, 21, arrives with plenty of expectation on his shoulders, but also with a wealth of top-level experience.

He has represented Benfica in the BWINLIGA since 2004, but recently enjoyed spells on loan with Premier League sides Portsmouth and Everton.

Indeed, each side wished to make the deal permanent, but injury problems at Goodison and then contractual disputes - Fernandes being part-owned by Benfica and part by "Global Sports Investment" - at Fratton put paid to the moves.

But the engine-room midfielder is apparently now on the verge of a Valencian move, being set to arrive in the Land tomorrow for a day of medical tests and paperwork.

Valencia kick off their Liga campaign on Sunday night in a derby tie with Villarreal.

Wonderful, I like this guy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QP3-yzlY6k[/youtube]

Yes i Like him too.I hope he will help us to overcome this nightmare start against Villarreal

Finally! Someone. Though I don't know enough about him to comment.

Edit: wait, wtf? This Fernandes is a holding midfielder according to this article by goal.com. Sure, he's apparently a good player, but why did Valencia sign Sunny then? How many defensivley- minded players does Quique want in the staring lineup, 7? 7!?

A good signing sure, as he looks talented on a few videos I've seen, but it doesn't address the pressing need that THERE IS NO CREATIVE FORCE IN CENTRAL MIDFIELD! I'm now convinced that Quique's football philosophy is based on playing not to lose rather than playing to win.

He can play as a holding midfielder, but he can also play sort of a box to box role like Baraja. Don't worry, he'll give us quite a lot going forward as well as defensivly.

Heyy he is more attacking player.Dont warry .a veryy good signing

Ah, box to box. Well, that certainly makes things better. Thank you for the information!

I haven't seen too much this Portuguese, he's young, so I hope he can be able to become a better player. By the way, I only remember a wonderful goal to Villarreal in CL playing for Benfica.

I also remember his great goal for Everton,against Manchester United in the Premiership.I think we bought a very good ,young and promising player.

Manuel said he's more like Baraja than Albelda. So, replace? And Sunny can replace Albelda who's in a bad form in my opinion.

Rafa Benitez said in private,that Albelda told him he wanted to sign for a big team for not to train that much. Football players are young, rich and selfish. Albelda with Benitez was good, maybe the best stopper in the world. After Rafa, Albelda is an important player, the captain, with a big moral importance... but he is not one of the best in his position. Albelda is happy with Quique, should he get any conclusion about it?

I didn't know it...