Credit: Twitter
Bruno Fernandes, who was last seen in action during the European Qualifier, is on a three-week break before the English Premier League gets underway. The midfielder enjoyed a well-earned vacation over the summer and is now back on the grass in time for the upcoming season. The 28-year-old has trained with his Portugal teammates, Joao Cancelo, and Rafael Leao. However, Arsenal's prime target Declan Rice was also spotted training alongside the Portuguese trio in a viral video on social media.
Rice has been spending time training in Portugal as he nears a club-record transfer to North London. Consequently, the West Ham captain did not go with the team to play Boreham Wood in the first preseason game. Rice will be one of three high-profile newcomers after Arsenal and West Ham reached an agreement on a transaction that may be worth up to £105 million, including add-ons. While Jurrien Timber's transfer from Ajax is still pending confirmation, Kai Havertz has already been traded from Chelsea.
All four of them represent four different clubs - Rafael Leao plays for AC Milan in the Serie A which is the top-flight league of Italian football, whereas the other three play in England, in the Premier League. They were first captured together by photographer Andre Silva, after which the photos and videos of the players went viral on social media. They were seen passing the ball casually while warming up together.
Watch the video here:
Next season, Leao and Fernandes plan to remain where they are, despite ties to clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea, the Milan star signed a new contract keeping him at the San Siro until 2028 while Fernandes is a contender to become Man Utd's permanent captain if Harry Maguire leaves.
The future of Cancelo is far less certain. The right-back, who spent the final months of the previous campaign on loan at Bayern Munich, is scheduled to return to Manchester City. However, earlier in the summer, both an Arsenal and a permanent transfer to Bayern were mentioned.
Given that many teams have been allowing their players extra time to recover after international commitments in June, it is unclear why the quartet had been practising together. Rice started for England in their victories over Malta and North Macedonia in Euro 2024 qualification, while the other players all played in Portugal's doubleheader against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iceland.
