The Lisbon team announced that they had exercised the left-back's buyout option, and the deal is good for five seasons until 2029.

Fernandez, 21, was previously loaned out to Granada in the first part of the season, with Manchester United offering the Luz club an option to purchase the player for about six million euros. In January, Fernandez was sent to Benfica during the winter transfer window.

As stipulated in the contract negotiated with the English team in January, Sport Lisboa e Benfica has activated its purchase option with Manchester United for the permanent acquisition of Álvaro Fernandez Carreras. Since then, the left-back has agreed to a five-year contract with the team until 2029.

In order to address the team's inadequacies on the left side of defence and following the departure of Jurásek, who was signed for 14 million euros and was hardly ever a viable option for German coach Roger Schmidt, the Spanish full-back joined Luz in January.



The German coach also had no intention of using Fernandez, since he nearly always went with midfielder Fredrik Aursnes, a Spanish center-back who has played 16 games since January but only seven of them as a starter.

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A passionate Irish journalist with a love for cycling, politics and of course Portugal especially their sausage rolls.

Rory Mc Ginn