Bruno Fernandes' Match-Winning Performance Vs Brighton Cost Manchester United £4.5 Million

Manchester United reportedly paid Sporting Lisbon £4.5 million after Bruno Fernandes' match winning performance on Saturday.

The 26-year-old scored a penalty with the final kick of the game to earn the Red Devils a 3-2 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.

Portuguese outlet Record claim United owed Sporting as Fernandes has played his 25th Premier League game.

Fernandes joined United back in January for an initial £45 million but instalments could see the fee rise to £66.7 million.

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One instalment came in July when United qualified for the Champions League, which saw them pay £2.74 million.

Fernandes has been United's best player since arriving in England and he has scored 13 goals so far.

His mentality has also impressed fans and following Saturday's win, he wasn't afraid to express his opinion.

The midfielder said per talkSPORT: "Brighton did very well, but maybe because we are not as aggressive as we wanted to be.

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"We needed to recover more balls, press better, we needed to lose less balls. They had a lot of chances, it's true.

"Maybe everyone can say they deserved more or not, I don't know. The point is to score goals, not hit the crossbar or post.

"Sometimes it happens to us. Against Sevilla and Copenhagen [in the Europa League last season], we shot about 40 times on goal and scored just twice from penalties.

"Sometimes you have to have some luck, you have to have some defenders defending well and the goalkeeper also because David [de Gea] did well today.

"With the [Brighton] goals we can do much better, I think everyone will agree and we will work on that."

He also told United's official website that he believed they could win "until the end."

"Of course, sometimes you have to have some balls to take a penalty like this, you know? I know everyone trusts in me, I know everyone was expecting me to score.

"Like I said in interviews before, penalties are key in some games. Today was key and we scored. It doesn't matter if I score or other players score, three points is the best way to go home."

Topics: Bruno Fernandes, Football News, Football, Manchester United, Transfers, Man U, Man utd, Premier League, sporting lisbon, Brighton

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a journalist for SPORTbible and he has previous experience with Manchester United. He has spoken to some of the biggest names in sport including Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, WWE COO Triple H and WWE legend The Undertaker. May or may not do a decent impression of Jamie Carragher.

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