Sporting have every right to drag this on. Fernandes is comfortably their most important player,arguably the most influential player they've had since the likes of Jardel,Figo,Ronaldo and possibly Moutinho were playing at the club.
But there must come a time when Sporting could leave themselves short here if a deal does finally materialise, likely with a couple of days left remaining in the window.
Their financial issues are well known to a certain degree but you would also like to believe they too would want to bring in someone that will lesson the loss of their key talisman.
Are they going to manage that in a possible short time ?