Bruno Fernandes is finally a Manchester United player.

The January transfer window's most protracted saga came to an end on Thursday afternoon as the Portuguese midfielder signed a five-and-a-half year contract with Sporting Lisbon's blessing.

The move comes after a reported five years of interest from United and the Red Devils were able to fend off a last-ditch approach from Barcelona.

It looks an ideal transfer for United who are crying out for more creativity in their midfield and Fernandes will bring nothing less after providing 69 goals contributions in the last two seasons.

But the big question is whether Fernandes can produce that sort of form in the Premier League, especially considering United's mixed record with signing players from Portuguese football.

Sporting Lisbon 2-2 Liverpool

Well, indicators of success for Fernandes in England aren't exactly abundant, but one of the most intriguing pieces of evidence comes from Sporting's pre-season in the summer of 2019.

The Portuguese side played out a 2-2 draw with none other than the Premier League leaders Liverpool, who have gone on to dominate English football with 23 wins from 24 games.

And while, yes, it was a friendly match, the Reds still had first-team regulars like Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson, Jordan Henderson and many more on the pitch.

Fernandes' individual highlights

So, the fact Fernandes dropped an impressive display during the game shouldn't be underplayed and United fans have slowly started to return to his individual highlights on YouTube.

The 25-year-old opened the scoring from fully 35 yards, albeit thanks to a Simon Mignolet error, and was constantly supplying penetrating passes to the Sporting front-line from deep.

That's not to mention the fact his constant shows of passion, harassing of the referee and general s***housery are exactly what United fans have been crying out for.

But don't just take our word for it, check out the full highlights down below:

One United fan wrote in the comments: "In just one friendly game with Liverpool, he looks like he managed more key passes than Lingard plus Pereira in half a season..."

And another penned: "Looking at this game, Liverpool will be all over the field running against United next time."

GIVEMESPORT's Kobe Tong says

This is just what the doctor ordered for United.

You can only gather so much from a pre-season game, but to play with that much ambition and invention against the European champions is no mean feat under any circumstances.

There's certainly enough evidence to suggest he'll have the bullishness required in the Premier League and the sort of directness that has been sucked dry from United's midfield.

At the very least, he's an improvement on Fred in just about every aspect and could unlock the club's front three when played alongside Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay.

For once, it seems as though United have been calculated and patient with a big-money signing, so you can expect Fernandes to shine in a way so many of their post-2013 purchases haven't.

He'll just be keeping his fingers crossed that it isn't Islam Slimani or Salomon Rondon that he's suppling passes for...