Should Premier League clubs be targeting Shakhtar's Fernandinho?

His Shakhtar teammate Willan has been a subject of fevered speculation about a move to Tottenham Hotspur or Chelsea, but Fernandinho has been superb for his club, and looks well suited to the style of English football.

If there's one thing Shakhtar are not short of, it's talented Brazilians. The clubs now well-known transfer policy has resulted in a squadron of excellent South American talent who shone in the recent matches with Juventus and Chelsea.

The most well known in England is Willian, who has been linked with Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur with increasing regularity, and has said himself how much he covets a move to the Premiership, as he believes it may help him get selected for Brazil.

Willian would be an undeniably good signing for any team, but there's a case for saying his Shakhtar teammate Fernandinho would be at least as good a player in the Premier League.

Fernandinho is a lightening quick box-to-box midfielder not unlike Ramires, who has now settled well in the Premiership. As he showed against Chelsea, he also has an eye for goal, and you could see him fitting in well at direct sides like Tottenham Hotspur or Manchester United, both of whom are regularly linked with signing a midfielder of his type.

Whilst Willian is more of an exciting luxury player, Fernandinho fits into the engine room of a side. At 27, he is older than many of the other Brazilians at Shakhtar, but his experience in the successful Ukrainian side would stand him in good stead in another league.

What is unclear is how open the player and his club would be to a move. Whilst Willian has now openly said he would like to leave Shakhtar to increase his chances of a national team call up, Fernandinho has made no such noises. As he is slightly older, Shakhtar may not be able to demand such a high fee for him, and they are certainly not in a perilous financial situation that would make them willing to sell players cheaply. Fernandinho has also signed a new contract fairly recently that ties him to Shakhtar until 2016.

However if a deal could reached with Shakhtar, I think there can be little doubt Fernandinho would do very well in England. His mobility and technical ability should make him adaptable enough to fit into most sides. Whilst all the attention is on Willian, perhaps some Premier League sides would do well to have a closer look at his compatriot.

Nick Harris

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I'm Nick Harris, Spurs fan and sports writer. Alongside HITC, I'm the founder, editor, writer, and fan of footballspirals.com and can be found on Twitter - @nicksharris. When I'm not watching sport I'm usually drinking coffee and checking updates on my phone in an antisocial manner.