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Fernandinho pays £4m to complete Manchester City move

By on June 6, 2013

Fernandinho has completed his predicted move to Manchester City by agreeing to pay £4 million of his own fortune

Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho has completed his “dream move” to Manchester City from Shakhtar Donetsk by sacrificing around £4 million in payments owed to him by Shakhtar in order to seal the move to Manchester. City were originally only willing to pay around £25 million for the box-to-box midfielder, a small amount compared to the £42.5 million Shakhtar were asking for Fernandiho, but The Sky Blues eventually negotiated the Brazilian’s cost down to around £34 million, an appropriate fee they were forced to cough up for the stellar player. Although City’s billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour could easily paid to the midfielder, Fernandinho himself sacrificed £4 million to speed up the process of the move.

Shakhtar had been unwilling to sell the midfielder, who had played a key role in the club’s sucessful defense of the Ukrainian Premier League last season, until completing the signings of Fernando and Wellington Nem, from Gremio and Fluminense respectively.

Fernandinho has been on the radar of many top clubs since scoring the winner for Brazil in the 2003 U-21 youth World Championship final, and Shakhtar were the first to make an offer for the 28-year-old, completing a £7 million deal for the deep-lying playmaker in 2005. The Brazilian, who has represented his country at senior level on 5 different occasions, helped Shakhtar win the Ukrainian league six times, and was part of the Uefa Cup winning side in 2009, announced his move to City in a statement on the English clubs’ official website, saying: “This is a change, a challenge and a chance that I have been waiting a long time for. Playing in the Premier League for City is like a dream.

“My ambition here is to win all the titles, the team here is strong, and so is the greatness of the club and the supporters. Professionally this is a spectacular thing. Playing for a huge club in a huge league makes me so happy. I hope I will be able to repay City for what they have done for me.

“I know I will face challenges but I am prepared for them. Every player at a high level faces pressure and must respond and I am ready for that too. I know a lot about City. Ever since they expressed an interest in me, I have been learning more.”

“This is a change, a challenge and a chance that I have been waiting a long time for. Playing in the Premier League for City is like a dream.

“My ambition here is to win all the titles, the team here is strong, and so is the greatness of the club and the supporters. Professionally this is a spectacular thing. Playing for a huge club in a huge league makes me so happy. I hope I will be able to repay City for what they have done for me.

“I know I will face challenges but I am prepared for them. Every player at a high level faces pressure and must respond and I am ready for that too. I know a lot about City. Ever since they expressed an interest in me, I have been learning more.”

 

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.