Sky Italia announce Manchester City buy Brazilian Fernandinho from Shakhtar Donetsk for £23m

Manchester City have opened their chequebook once again.

Late on Tuesday night, Sky Italia broke the news that Roberto Mancini’s Citizens have started regrouping for next season by buying Brazilian playmaker Fernandinho from Shakhtar Donetsk for £23m.

Fernandinho, 27, is an attacking, creative midfielder who has been based in the Ukraine with Shakhtar since 2005. He is a box to box midfielder with impressive technique, vision and high-quality passing skills.

With just a handful of Brazilian international cap to his name, Fernandinho maybe living the career of big fish in a small pond. At Shakhtar the Brazilian has won plenty of titles as well as the Uefa Cup back in 2009. But the Ukrainian League is far less quality than the English top flight. Moving to the Etihad Stadium is undoubtedly a major step up in week-to-week quality, and at that level Fernandinho remains rather untested.

The move also highlights a recent pattern of top stars at Shakhtar, as Willian recently moved to Anji in Russia while Armenian forward Henrikh Mkhitaryan is also tipped to move from Dontesk this summer.

Fernandinho is a step up in class from the likes of Scott Sinclair and Javi Garcia, and City’s announcement of the deal (which was reportedly agreed back in January but only made public now) shows that the blue side of Manchester are ready to battle for the Premier League title again next season.

This season for Shakhtar, Fernandinho has played 23 matches and scored three goals. Two of Fernandinho’s goals this campaign, including one against Chelsea in the Champions League, can be seen below.