The captain of Manchester United, Bruno Fernandes, has dismissed reports that he has concluded plans to leave the club next season, saying his future in the game will not be discussed with anyone until after next year’s World Cup.
The 31-year-old will make his 300th appearance for United on Saturday, as the club attempts to end a run of three successive home defeats during the game against Brighton.
It is an achievement made more remarkable by the fact that Fernandes has missed just 17 games since his £47m move from Sporting in January 2020 – and only three of those were because of injury or illness.
The Portuguese rejected a huge offer from a Saudi Arabian club, Al-Hilal, and European clubs in the summer.
Sources close to him had previously claimed the player had no wish to move to Saudi Arabia next summer either, with major European clubs outside the Premier League holding more interest.
He said: “As I’ve always said, I feel good here. I want to achieve my dreams still. I can’t talk for the club. I’ve seen a lot of people talking that I have an agreement to go already next season. If the club has done that agreement, it wasn’t made with me. I haven’t spoken with anyone.
“My agent also knows how I work. If he wants to talk to me, it will be after the World Cup. Until then, I won’t speak to anyone.”
Fernandes spoke to a lot of people when Al-Hilal’s interest first became public during United’s post-season trip to Asia.
Conversations with chief executive, Omar Berrada, and technical director, Jason Wilcox, plus head coach, Ruben Amorim, Portugal team-mate, Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays in Saudi Arabia, and his family all took place independently.
Everyone accepted that the money being talked about, even for one of the Premier League’s highest earners, was eye-watering. The fee, expected to be in excess of £100m, would have been a club record sale.
But no one was pushing Fernandes out. In fact, Amorim was saying quite the opposite.
“He said to me, ‘No, we want more players to help you become a better team. If we bring some people and lose you, we’re still going to lose something,” Fernandes said of his manager.
His wife, Ana, who was blunt, said: “My family feels very well here. My kids love to go to school. They love the way they live here, even with the weather.
“Everyone is settled. We say sometimes the house we have here feels more like home than the one we have in Portugal.
“The first thing she said was: ‘Have you achieved everything you wanted to achieve at the club?’ She knows I haven’t. When I talk about not fulfilling my dreams at the club, it comes a lot from what she said to me.”
