Who is Pedro Goncalves? The 'next Bruno Fernandes' Man Utd are after

Manchester United have accelerated their plans for the summer with a top four place all but secured following results at the weekend, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer keen on addressing a number of positions in order to mount a title challenge next season.

Signing a new right winger remains a top priority for United after missing out on Borussia Dortmund's Jadon Sancho last summer. The 20-year-old is still a top transfer target for the Red Devils but Solskjaer's side are also drawing up a list of alternatives if Dortmund continue to play hardball over Sancho's valuation.

Bundesliga duo Kingsley Coman and Leon Bailey have already been heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford but, according to The Daily Telegraph, Pedro Goncalves is now on their summer wishlist. But who is the Sporting CP star? In this piece we run the rule over the Portuguese midfielder following in Bruno Fernandes' footsteps.

Background

Pedro Goncalves is only 22 but has already been at seven clubs. Aside from a five-year stint at Braga's youth academy, Goncalves has never lasted more than two years at any one club. After a couple of seasons with Wolves, making only one first-team appearance for the club, he returned to Portugal with Famalicao in 2019. He was a roaring success for the newly promoted side.

So much so that he only stayed for one season. In that time he helped fire the club to sixth place, narrowly missing out on European football, but their best ever finish in a top-flight campaign. Famalicao had no chance of keeping him once Sporting CP came calling last summer. While Famalicao now battle relegation, Sporting are on the cusp of their first league title since 2002, with Goncalves playing the lead role.

Sporting CP only paid in the region of £5m for the Portugal U21 international last summer and stand to make an enormous profit on him, having sold his predecessor to United in a deal worth as much as £70m in January 2020. Even if Sporting are forced to sell Goncalves for less than his reported £51.7m release clause, his departure will represent another massive financial win for the club.

Position

Sporting CP ironically moved to sign Goncalves to fill the hole left by a certain Bruno Fernandes six months earlier. Not only has he done that, he has transformed Sporting into title favourites in his first season at the club. He was an instant hit at Famlicao and is now enjoying the same success with Sporting CP. It has caught the attention of some of the biggest clubs in Europe, including United, and it looks likely he will soon be on the move again.

United supporters will no doubt be wondering why they need to sign Goncalves if they already have Fernandes, with Donny van de Beek struggling in the background himself. According to reports, United believe Goncalves has the skillset to play on the right wing despite having never played there for either Famlicao or Sporting. All of his success has come with him playing in Fernandes' old No.10 position.

Stats Breakdown

Bruno Fernandes was both the top scoring player (28) and top WhoScored rated player (7.83) in the Portuguese Liga NOS during his final 18 months at Sporting CP and Pedro Goncalves is on course to do the same in his first season. Goncalves leads the scoring charts by two (15) and his WhoScored rating (7.49) is 0.05 better than second place Sergio Oliveira.

While Fernandes takes a lot of flack for the amount of penalties he scores, Goncalves has remarkably scored all 15 of his from open play this season. Those 15 goals have been worth an additional 11 points for Sporting. Fernandes is United's match winner and Goncalves is carrying out a similar role for Sporting.

Goncalves is certainly more of a pure goalscorer compared to Fernandes. If Fernandes wasn't scoring them, he was generally setting them up. Goncalves has only registered three assists in the league this season and averages 2.6 shots per 90 compared to 1.7 key passes per 90. Fernandes, meanwhile, finished his final season for Sporting with eight goals and seven assists in 17 league appearances, averaging more key passes per 90 (3.7) than shots (3.5). Fernandes ranks top in Europe's top 5 leagues for big chances created this season (17), 10 more than Goncalves in Portugal.

Signing Goncalves to then put him out on the wing is also at odds with United's other targets. Sancho, Coman and Bailey are all strong ball carriers with creativity, but that simply isn't one of Goncalves' main strengths. Fernandes has a dribble success rate of 42.4% this season, well down from his final season at Sporting (66.7%), which is one of the lowest returns in the Premier League. Goncalves' is even worse, standing at only 40% this season. In fact, only four players to have attempted at least 25 dribbles in the Liga NOS this season have a worse success rate than the Sporting starlet.

United would be foolish not to take a closer look at Goncalves given his impact at Sporting. Solskjaer needs more players with Fernandes' mentality and Goncalves certainly appears to have that, but to use him on the wing at this stage of his career would seem a real waste of his talents.