The emergence that Manchester United had sold Alvaro Fernandez to Benfica did not cause a ripple on May 26. Many United supporters were still possibly drunk from their FA Cup triumph the previous day.
Benfica paid United a fixed fee of €6million, with €3m in add-ons. The terms included a high percentage sell-on clause and a buy-back option that expires in 2026.
Perception and timing are Erik ten Hag’s enemies at the moment. Both of United’s specialist left backs are still unavailable and Fernandez is now the starting left back for Benfica.
He was the recipient of the man of the match orb after their 4-0 Champions League drubbing of Atletico Madrid this month. The former Real Madrid youth-teamer could head back to Spain for senior international duty soon.
Alejandro Grimaldo, starter for Spain at left back in their 1-0 defeat of Denmark on Saturday, left Benfica for Bayer Leverkusen last year. Benfica is a prosperous club for a left back to flourish. Fabio Coentrao left in 2011 for Real Madrid.
Ten Hag would be cut some slack if he had bothered to properly use Fernandez. He omitted him from his first pre-season tour squad in 2022 and when he included him the following year, Fernandez did not appear in any of United’s three first-team friendlies. He actually dropped down to start for the academy in their 3-1 loss to Wrexham in San Diego.
The only times Fernandez played under Ten Hag were in the first halves against Leeds United in Norway and Lyon in Edinburgh at the start of the 2023 pre-season schedule, and 64 minutes against Athletic Bilbao at the end.
Come the Stateside tour, Brandon Williams was suddenly playing ahead of Fernandez at left back. Williams had played five competitive minutes in 14 months. He was unavailable through injury for five of those months.
During that time, Fernandez had played 42 times on loan at Preston in 2022-23 and received the club’s young player of the year award. The thought process at United is youngsters loaned to Championship clubs are potential first-team squad members.
Senior United sources said during the 2023 tour they had made Williams aware he was for sale and it was time he left permanently. So Williams played 45 minutes against Arsenal in New Jersey, 28 minutes against Real Madrid in Houston and 61 minutes against Borussia Dortmund in Las Vegas. Fernandez was an unused substitute in all three games.
The shop-window tactic did not work. All United could arrange was for Williams to join Ipswich Town on a season-long loan. After making 17 appearances, he did not play for the club again after December 29. Williams was released in July and does not have a club.
United loaned Fernandez to Granada on transfer deadline day in September 2023, the same day they loaned Sergio Reguilon from Tottenham. Reguilon’s season-long loan was terminated midway through as Tyrell Malacia was expected to return in January. Malacia started participating in the first team’s warm-up sessions at Carrington on September 20.
Signing Malacia and ignoring Fernandez before preferring Reguilon – so meek he cried in the dressing room after United’s League Cup elimination by Newcastle – raises more questions about Ten Hag’s judgement at left back. Reguilon has been reduced to a training cone at Tottenham. He travelled with the squad to Hungary for their recent Europa League tie against Ferencvaros even though he has been excluded from their squad.
Fernandez has started seven matches running for Benfica in what may yet turn out to be a purple patch. The issue is one of United’s last overseas headline academy additions never got a chance at a club where their biggest positional problem is at left back.
Fernandez was actually closer to a breakthrough under Ralf Rangnick, who named him on the bench in the final four fixtures of the 2021-22 season.
“There might be one or two, or maybe even three [youngsters], where it makes sense to have them in pre-season so that they can also show to Erik if they are already ready to play,” said Rangnick.
The one or two were Hannibal Mejbri and Alejandro Garnacho. Fernandez was not the third.