Bruno Fernandes was wanted by Al Hilal in the summer but turned down the chance to leave Manchester United and is content at Old Trafford.
Bruno Fernandes has admitted he is happy at Manchester United but hinted he will think again about his future after next summer’s World Cup.
Saudi Professional League side Al Hilal had expressed interest in signing Mohamed Salah during the summer, but after Salah committed his future to Liverpool, they shifted their focus to Fernandes as a potential star signing.
Al Hilal offered a significant financial package to lure Fernandes away from Manchester. However, there was no formal contact with United and Fernandes turned down the offer.
Fernandes explained his decision to stay at United over the summer, but gave a new perspective on his rejection of Al Hilal when he spoke to journalists in Carrington on Friday.
He said: “I have had discussions with Al Hilal. Everyone knows that. Everyone knows that. There were other clubs who tried after Al Hilal, but obviously my answer will not change.”
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“Some people from Europe have talked to me, but it didn’t get to the stage of whether to make an offer or not, because it’s all very nice and people want you, but then they have to put money on the table for the club, otherwise the club won’t let me go.”
“Obviously, I think the specific one is from Saudi. To be honest, there was no need for me to leave the club at the moment. I had discussions with Saudi as well as the manager, but I think that’s why we didn’t end up in talks with European clubs… because I didn’t show much interest in going anywhere.”
“So they felt a little bit about it and said it’s a waste of time and they’re going to say no in a month or two. So the manager talked to me and he said I’m still part of the project.”
“He wanted me to stay, and the club said the same thing. If the club said, ‘Bruno, we want to make money, you’re 30 years old, we want to make money, we don’t think you can be part of future projects,’ I would think, ‘Okay, I have to find the best solution for myself and my family by myself.’ And I’m going to leave.”
“But obviously that wasn’t the case. I felt I was still part of the plan and could help the club achieve whatever our goals were. And that’s what made me stay. Obviously I have a big connection with the fans, the club and also the country. My family is very well here.”
Fernandez added: “The kids love going to school. They love living here, the weather and everything else. Nothing is wrong today (lol). But obviously everyone is very calm.”
“I’m very happy to be here. Of course I miss home, but my goal now is not to go to Portugal again to play. And obviously home for me is Porto, not Lisbon.”
“Of course, if I have the chance to play in Portugal again, I will always put Sporting in front of everyone and have the chance to play for them again. But we feel like home here too.”
“When I talk to my family, they sometimes say that the house here feels more like home than the one in Portugal, because we were only there for two, three, or more weeks. And that was one of the many reasons behind that.”
Asked if he had spoken to Omar Berada and Jason Wilcox, Fernandes revealed: “Of course I spoke to both of them. I think the first one I spoke to was already in Malaysia because that’s how it all started.”
“I talked to Omar and said, ‘Look, this is what’s on the table. I know the club might look at this one way. I’m going to look at it another way. So I just want to know from your perspective, from your side, what’s the perspective, what do you guys want to do? And from there I’m going to do what I have to do.’
“And obviously the first one, as Omar said, Jason also said: ‘We’re not going to say no, but obviously that’s what we want you to stay at the club. But if you want to go, we’re not going to say that’s not an offer for us, because obviously it’s a huge amount of money.’ As I’ve said many times, the club’s last biggest sale was for £20 million, probably from Daniel James.
“I don’t know. Scott[McTominay]was above that. But if you go from there and Al Hilal are offering a big price like £80m or £100m, it seems like they were willing to pay more than they were willing to pay for a player.”
“And from there I spoke to the manager too, saying, ‘Look, this is what I have, this is the offer on the table.’ Of course, I told him that if the club says, ‘We want you to leave because we want to get another player, we need money, like to get more players,’ then you have to think about it.”
“It wasn’t like that from the club side. They always told me, buy the team, reinforce them. They wanted players. The manager said to me, ‘No, we want more players to become a better team, so we don’t want you to leave, because if we bring in some and then lose you, we’ll still lose something.’
“More or less, it was a conversation between all of us. I spoke one person at a time. I didn’t go with everyone.”
Fernandes has made it clear that his situation at United remains unchanged and that talks will not take place until after the World Cup. “No, it will be the same situation,” he said.
“As I always say, I feel good here. I still want to make my dream come true. But obviously I can’t speak on the club’s side. I’ve seen a lot of news, I’ve seen a lot of people saying that there was already an agreement to go next season. Even if the club made that agreement, it wasn’t with me.”
“So, I haven’t talked to anyone. I can tell you, of course, there are still people who have spoken to me and said they’re very excited to have me next year.”
“But from my side, it hasn’t been talked about, because my agent also knows how I work. So if he wants to talk to me, it will be after the World Cup. Until then, I don’t talk to anyone.”
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