Manchester United have reached a deadlock with Sporting Lisbon over a deal for Bruno Fernandes, as reported by Sky Sports.

What's the story?

Sporting have almost doubled the price of the midfielder over the last two days, a decision that could come to jeopardise the prospective move.

During the summer, United were quoted €45m [£39m] to sign the 25-year-old, but that figure has now risen to €80m [£68m].

Consequentially, no further talks are expected to be held over the weekend, but it has been suggested that they could pick up again during the week.

United feel that their offer is a fair one, but might be pushed to up it due to the fact that the Portuguese midfielder was identified as their main target for the window.

A decision to make

The club could be faced with a difficult decision following on from these developments, as they look to ensure they are not held to ransom while also showing the ambition to sign a big-name target.

Fernandes has been in impressive form this campaign, netting 13 goals and claiming 10 assists from 21 starts across Liga NOS and the Europa League.

Notably, those contributions include two goals and two assists in a 4-0 win against PSV Eindhoven, a goal against Braga and a hat-trick of assists in a 3-1 victory over Portimonense.

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United will need to gauge whether they feel that he will be able to seamlessly make the step into Premier League football, especially if they are to get anywhere near meeting the Portuguese giants' demands.

One cause for concern in this respect could be that he's not got a goal contribution from the games against Porto or Benfica this season, two of Portugal's biggest outfits.

This indicates that there will be plenty of factors for United to weigh up before returning for negotiations.

Meanwhile, Man United will be given the chance to sign a big-name striker during the summer.