Bruno Fernandes vows loyalty to Man United, dismisses Saudi move rumours

Manchester United captain, Bruno Fernandes, has reaffirmed his commitment to the club, dismissing rumours of a potential move to Saudi Arabia.

The Portuguese midfielder, who joined United from Sporting CP in January 2020, is set to make his 300th appearance for the club. He has scored 100 goals and provided 87 assists since his arrival.

In an interview with Sky Sports, Fernandes addressed reports linking him with a big-money move to Al Hilal and clarified that while there were discussions, no formal offer was made.

“I had conversations with Al Hilal; everyone is aware of that. From Europe, I had some people talking to me, but we never got into the place where we would have offers on the table or not,” Bruno said.

He explained that Manchester United’s leadership, including director of football Jason Wilcox and CEO Omar Berrada, were informed about the talks.

“Jason, like Omar, said, ‘We won’t say no, but we want you to stay at the club. If you want to go, we won’t say that it’s not the offer for us because obviously it’s massive money.”

Fernandes added that manager Erik ten Hag also urged him to stay.

“I spoke with the manager and he said to me, ‘No, we want more players to help you to become a better team, so we don’t want you to go – if we bring some people and then we lose you – we’re still going to lose together,” he told Sky Sports.

The midfielder said his decision to remain was driven by unfinished business.
“Everyone knows my aim is to win the Premier League and the Champions League,” the 31-year-old expressed.

Fernandes also revealed that he sought advice from Cristiano Ronaldo about the Saudi offer.

“I spoke with Cristiano about the situation, Saudi, and everything. I wasn’t eager to move to Saudi (Arabia) because I wanted to stay at the club, but Cristiano told me his opinion on what I should do. It was important for me, obviously, with all the experience he has and everything, it was important for me to hear what he thought.”

The United captain said he remains focused on the team’s goals and dismissed suggestions of a pre-arranged move to the Middle East.

“As I’ve always said, I feel good here, I want to achieve my dreams still, but obviously I can’t talk for the club, I’ve seen a lot of news, I’ve seen people talking that I had an agreement to go already next season. If the club has done that agreement, it wasn’t made with me.”

Fernandes also spoke highly of his young teammate Kobbie Mainoo.

“I want to have the best competition to play in my position, for example, Kobbie Mainoo is competition because he is very capable of doing what I can do in a different way… it makes me improve, he makes me a better player,” he said.

READ ALSO FROM SPORTING TRIBUNE