Man Utd captain Bruno Fernandes has put his weight behind a summer move for Sandro Tonali as the Red Devils are set to make a ‘formal approach’, according to reports.

The Red Devils spent around ￡200m on attacking players in the summer transfer window with Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko all joining in big-money deals.

INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe were criticised for failing to bring in a midfielder over the summer despite it being an obvious area of weakness.

But Man Utdare set to pump most of their summer funds into sorting that area of their squad with at least two new midfielders expected to join.

And now the Daily Mailclaims that Newcastle midfielder Tonali ‘is set to emerge as the main target ahead of Elliot Anderson and Adam Wharton’.

Man Utd captain Fernandes is ‘said to have added his support to an approach for Tonali, so impressed is the Portuguese by his midfield counterpart’ with the Red Devils to make a ‘formal approach’ for the Newcastle star in the summer.

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Despite interest from elsewhere, Man Utd are now ‘moving to the front of the queue’ for Tonali and are ‘not considering a move’ for his Newcastle team-mate Bruno Guimaraes.

Fabrizio Romano recently revealed that Serie A giants Juventus are very interested in taking Tonali back to Italy but the rumoured ￡80m asking price is likely to end their chances of buying the Newcastls star.

Romano said on his YouTube channel: “Juve have been trying to bring Sandro Tonali back to Italy for a couple of years now. The player himself is also quite keen on the idea.

“Sandro Tonali has been doing rather well at Newcastle since his return; he has maintained a very, very high standard. Regarding Sandro Tonali, lads, we’ve been telling you over the past few weeks that the direction of the Tonali deal ahead of the summer of 2026 is increasingly pointing towards England, where he’s clearly already at Newcastle, but where he can take a further step up.

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“Well, the issue here, too, is financial, economic. For Juventus, Tonali has always been a fixation in recent years. He was one for Cristiano Giuntoli and he was one for Comolli himself last summer.”

It seems likely that Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson is likely to join Man City but Rio Ferdinand recently insisted he would prefer the England international at Old Trafford over Tonali or Guimaraes.

Ferdinand said: “Tonali is a big talent that everyone is talking about, Guimaraes is another big talent that everyone is talking about, but I just think the type of midfielder United need is somebody who is a bit more all-action, who can cover ground, who is dynamic, who is robust, strong, who can drive a team.

“Right now Anderson seems to be ticking those boxes. But I think there are a few other young guns out there who I won’t mention their names yet because I don’t want anyone else to get on that scent.”