Bruno Fernandes reveals details on rumoured mega-money Saudi Arabia move

Bruno Fernandes is talking hundreds and millions. When he leads Manchester United out against Brighton on Saturday, the captain will become the 63rd player to make 300 appearances for the club. He has brought up the landmark in under six years, garnished that triple century with exactly 100 goals, but the man who ranks as both United’s best signing and best player since Sir Alex Ferguson retired is a personal success story amid a wider malaise.

“I want to be recognised by the many good things I did for the club, that I've brought something back to the club, not just my individual numbers,” said Fernandes. At times, his have felt like doomed heroics, a man single-handedly trying to avert decline at Old Trafford. But when United endured their worst season in half a century, Fernandes was offered the most lucrative of escape routes. He could have had a remarkably lucrative reunion with his Portugal skipper Cristiano Ronaldo and his former Sporting CP manager Jorge Jesus at Al-Hilal. And he chose to stay at a club who finished 15th last year.

Fernandes is swift to say that he is scarcely a pauper at United, but it was a notable display of loyalty nonetheless. “The offer was very good in terms of salary,” he said. “Everything was massive for me. I had the conversations with Al-Hilal. Everyone knows that. There were also other clubs that tried after Al-Hilal, but my answer wouldn't change. From Saudi also. From Europe, I had some people talking to me, but we never got into the place where we would be offering on the table or not. The concrete one was from Saudi.”

Fernandes talked to Ronaldo and Jesus, but he also spoke to United chief executive Omar Berrada, director of football Jason Wilcox and manager Ruben Amorim. They gave him permission to go but left him in no doubt their preference was to keep him.

Fernandes explained: “Jason said, like Omar said, ‘We won't say no but obviously we want you to stay at the club. But if you want to go, we won't say that it's not a good offer for us, because it's massive money’. The club's last biggest sale was probably £20m for Daniel James, I'm not very sure. Scott [McTominay] went above that. But to go from that to the big amount that Al-Hilal… they could offer £80-100m. They were more than eager to pay.

“I always said that if the club was like ‘Bruno, we want to cash in, you are 30 years old. We want to make some money. We don't think you can be part of the future project’ or whatever, I would be like, ‘OK, I have to find a solution for myself, whatever is best for me and my family, and I will leave’. But obviously that wasn't the case. I felt that I was still part of the plan.”

United can probably thank Ana Pinho, Fernandes’ wife, and their children, Matilde and Goncalo. They also wanted to stay in Manchester. “My family feels very well here,” the midfielder explained. “My kids love to go to school. They love the way they live here, even with the weather. We're very happy to be here. Obviously, we miss home, but my aim is not to go now to play in Portugal again. And obviously, home for me is Porto, not Lisbon. But we feel like home here now.”

On a personal level, Fernandes is content in Manchester. Some of his professional ambitions have gone unrealised, though. United have won the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup since his arrival in 2020, but not the bigger prizes. “Everyone knows my aim is to win the Premier League and the Champions League with the club,” he said. “If I'm going to do it or not, I'm not going to be able to tell you.” Logic would suggest not: not given the depths they plumbed last season.

But if victory over Liverpool has the potential to prove a turning point, United gave Fernandes a message he liked in the summer: rather than cashing in on him, they would invest in players to ease the goalscoring burden on him.

“We needed to sign big characters,” Fernandes said. “I think we brought in players that are very aware of the dimension of the club. [Matheus] Cunha has that good arrogance to do the good things and the right things, so that's something good. Bryan [Mbeumo], also the same. Ben [Sesko] will be judged on scoring goals or not but he’s been doing great.”

Perhaps the failings of previous teammates have cost Fernandes a wider recognition. Besides his 100 goals, he has 84 assists for the club. Yet the individual honours and the places on the Ballon d’Or shortlist tend to go to those who have won more prestigious trophies and played in better sides.

“Probably people will say, ‘yeah, Bruno's doing very well’,” reflected Fernandes. “But that's not what I want. Obviously, I want people to say good things about me – I would be lying if I say no – but I want the team achievements, because that will be massive for me also, it will make me, in the eyes of people, be a better player also.”

And arguably he put that quest for collective achievements at United above his bank balance in his thinking. “Money is important to everyone in life, so I would be lying [if I said not],” Fernandes added. “But I’m not in a position where I should be counting my money or having problems in the future if I do things right. I’m not struggling, I’m not someone that has spent all the money that I’ve earned through the years. And when I finish my career, I just want a relaxed life in my house, going to the coffee shop sometimes with my father.”

If Fernandes should be able to afford to pay for those coffees, his eventual retirement should be cushioned by the knowledge he gave everything to the United cause. Even after he was offered a fortune to go.

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