Sporting Club de Portugal's president Bruno Varandas has opened up on the reasoning behind the Portuguese club's decision to reject an offer for midfielder Bruno Fernandes from Tottenham Hotspur.
Varandas has revealed that Sporting had plans in place to sell Portugal international Fernandes last summer but decided against it when no appropriate offers were made.
Fernandes, of course, sealed his exit from the Portuguese capital in the January transfer window, joining Manchester United on a five-and-a-half year deal, with the option of an extra year, for £47million.
But it turns out that Fernandes could have been playing Premier League football long before his January switch to Old Trafford came about, with the news that if Sporting had reduced their asking price last summer and accepted Spurs' offer then a deal to bring the 25-year-old to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could have taken place.
Speaking in an interview with Portuguese newspaper Record, Varandas said: "At the end of June, we had become aware that we were going to sell Bruno. We had already signed Camacho, Rosier and Vietto, and we wanted to bring in a striker and a midfielder who were practically closed.
"The last four days of this market were the worst of my presidency, that's when I realised that we didn't sell Bruno Fernandes.
"Bruno's sale was very conditioned by his return. If Sporting refused a bid of €35million, we would have to give his agent €5million. This clause was made public irresponsibly.
"It was one of the things that seriously penalised us. And it was only in this window that Sporting took that weight off our shoulders, to go and negotiate."
Varandas has also revealed that moving Fernandes on in January was necessary because the Liga Nos giants needed to make €115million to stay afloat in a financial sense.
He continued: "There are non-negotiable players. Bruno Fernandes is the proof. And it was an obligation.
"We wouldn't be able to reach €115million without [selling] him. With the January sale, for €63million practically certain, it was shown that we did well to resist and not to accept the proposal of Tottenham."
