Manchester City are on the verge of signing midfielder Fernando from Porto for a transfer fee of £12 million after the Portuguese side officially announced that they have reached an agreement with the Premier League Champions.
Although the Citizens had tried to sign the 26-year-old in the January transfer window itself, talks had broken down after they had failed to negotiate a fee with Porto for the Brazil-born midfielder.
However, now Porto seem to be satisfied with the transfer fee for their midfielder, as they have confirmed that Fernando will be moving to the Etihad this summer.
"[The club] would like to inform that we have arrived at an agreement with Manchester City for the permanent transfer of the midfielder Fernando for €15 million," read a statement released by Porto to the Portuguese stock exchange.
The Brazilian, who will not require a work permit in England as he is a naturalised Portuguese citizen, has reportedly already passed a medical and agreed on personal terms with the Premier League Champions.
Despite having a packed midfield, City, who have also completed signing the right-back Bacary Sagna from Arsenal on a free transfer, were keen on getting Fernando as a backup for Yaya Toure and Fernandinho.
Meanwhile Toure has sparked another controversy claiming that Manchester City did not grant him leave to spend some time with his bother Ibrahim, who died of cancer.
"I confess that I am still very sad. I'm suffering because I feel I have done nothing useful for him the last few weeks. At the end of the season, I wanted to stay for four or five days with my brother before I flew to prepare for the World Cup with Ivory Coast, except that City did not want to give me a few days," he said.
Toure, who had earlier threatened to quit Manchester City over a ridiculous birthday row, added that the Citizens forced him to go on a pre-season tour when his brother lay in his deathbed.
"I went to celebrate the title championship in Abu Dhabi while my brother was in his sickbed. By fortune, Kolo was at his bedside. After that I blame myself for not insisting and for not leading them to respect me. However, club officials knew that I had been suffering for a few months seeing the health of my brother decline."
