MANCHESTER UNITED captain Bruno Fernandes rejected life-changing money from Saudi Arabia as he believes he can win the Premier League and the Champions League with the club.
Fernandes, 31, revealed that Al-Hilal offered a fee up to £100m in the summer and he even sought the advice of Saudi-based United great Cristiano Ronaldo.
United were in Malaysia on their post-season tour when Fernandes informed chief executive Omar Berrada of the lucrative offer from Al-Hilal.
European clubs also expressed interest in Fernandes, who is under contract at Man Utd until 2027 with the option of an additional year and the club is targeting a 21st title triumph by 2028.
But after a conversation with his wife, Ana, Fernandes decided to try and end United’s title drought and he will not reassess his future until after the 2026 World Cup.
“As I’ve always said, I feel good here,” Fernandes said. “I want to achieve my dreams still. But obviously I can’t talk about the club’s side.
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“I’ve seen a lot of news. I’ve seen a lot of 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.
“So I haven’t spoken with anyone. I could tell you that there are still people talking to me and saying that they will be very eager to have me next year, of course.
“But from my side, that’s not 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. Because until then, I won’t speak to anyone.
“The first question when I spoke to my wife was, ‘Look, we have this offer from Saudi’.
“And obviously the first thing she said was, ‘Have you achieved everything you wanted to achieve at the club?’ Because she knows that I haven’t.
“And when I talk about how I haven’t fulfilled my dreams at the club, it comes a lot from what she said to me.
“And obviously, I’m not sure, she’s not sure I’m going to make it. But if I don’t try it, that’s for sure I won’t make it.
“I had a conversation with Omar and I told him, ‘Look, this is what is on the table. I know the club might be looking at this in a way.
“I will be looking at it in a different way so I just want to know from your perspective, from your side, what’s the point of view, what you guys want to do. And then from there on, I will do my things’.
“And obviously, the first one, [director of football] Jason [Wilcox] 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.
“As I said this many times, the club’s last biggest sale [before Alejandro Garnacho’s £40m move to Chelsea] was probably £25m for Daniel James (to Leeds in 2021). Scott [McTominay] went above that.
“But to go from that to the big amount that Al-Hilal, they could offer £80m-100m. They were more than eager to pay for the player to go.
“And from there on, I spoke with Ruben Amorim also. The manager said to me, like, ‘No, we want more players to help you to become a better team so we don’t want you to go, because then if we bring some people and then we lose you, we’re still going to lose something’.
“Obviously, everyone knows my aim is to win the Premier League and the Champions League with the club.
“If I’m going to do it or not, I’m not going to be able to tell you because if I would be able to tell you, I would be very happy at this moment that I know that I’m going to win in some moment in these three years, [that] I’m going to win either the Premier League or the Champions League, but I can’t tell that.”
Fernandes admitted that Al-Hilal were “not very happy for me to reject the offer” after he spoke with their former coach Jorge Jesus, who managed him at Sporting Lisbon.
Jesus is now Ronaldo’s coach at Al-Nassr, who were also linked with a move for Fernandes.
Fernandes added: “I spoke with Cristiano about the situation, about Saudi and everything.
“I wouldn’t say what he told me, but we spoke about it.”
Cristiano Ronaldo advice
“Cristiano had 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.
“But obviously the decision will always come to me and to the club.”
In a wide-ranging interview to mark his 300th appearance for United against Brighton on Saturday, Fernandes reflected on nearly six years in Manchester, the impact of their new signings and his dealings with co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Fernandes scored his 100th United goal in the 2-1 win against Chelsea last month and he has tallied 87 assists since his £67.7m transfer from Sporting in January 2020.
United’s recruitment hit rate has been dismal since Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid in 2009 and Fernandes has been their most successful signing by a distance.
Peculiarly, he still regards his debut, an unmemorable goalless draw with Wolves in February 2020, as his “best moment” at United despite lifting the League Cup and FA Cup as captain in 2023 and 2024.
Memorable Man Utd debut
“I don’t know why I [hit the ground running]. Some people have more difficulties to do it.
“I was just hungry enough to do everything, because for me, I’ve said this many times, the first chance was the last one, so I had to make it.
“There was nothing else in my head other than making it in the Premier League, because it was my dream to play for this club for many years, and when I got the chance I couldn’t waste it.
“Obviously, the Carabao Cup is very special because it’s the first one, but I think the FA Cup. Not because it was against City, but because it’s much bigger in England for the fans, for the football.
“It’s the first domestic cup in the world. So it’s a big pleasure for us. I had my brother living here before I came, so I already knew about history, about going to Wembley and all these things.
“It was very special, obviously, because I know how much it means to the FA Cup, for the fans, for the club and for the country also.”
Summer signings’ impact
United spent £225m in the summer to sign Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko and Senne Lammens.
Fernandes had already encountered Cunha and Mbeumo, who both scored in victories for Wolves and Brentford against United.
Staff at Man Utd believe Cunha is alleviating the burden on Fernandes through his desire to get on the ball, and the captain highlighted his new team-mate’s character.
“We need to sign big characters, not good players,” Fernandes stressed. “Because at this club, being good players sometimes is not enough because of the pressure, because of the attention we get and everything.
“I think we brought in players that are very aware of the dimension of the club. You spoke about Cunha. Cunha has that good arrogance to do the good things and the right things, so that’s something good.
“Bryan, also the same. He’s not afraid to take the ball, to do his play, to do his things. We brought two players who were aware of the Premier League also.
Cunha and Mbeumo influence
“When we speak about Cunha, the thing of having the arrogance to say, ‘Give me the ball, I want to play, I want to make things’.
“With time, sometimes it won’t be good for people because I’ve been through that. He always wants the ball, he’s always doing this, he’s always doing that.
“But for us, on the inside, we want this Cunha. We want you to take the risks, to shoot, to take people on, to create.
“Bryan: the same. ‘Bryan, just get your shots on’. Sometimes I get upset with him in training because he’s like, one touch more, one touch more and everything.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe interaction
“I say, ‘Brian, you don’t need that. You can one-touch and shoot because you’re more than able to do that. You did that against us when you were at Brentford! You just have to make it for us now. The shirts have changed, but you’re the same player so we need that from you.’”
Before Ratcliffe became a minority stakeholder in United, he mentioned Fernandes’ play-acting in the first page of a book on the Ineos petrochemicals company he founded.
Ratcliffe said witnessing a rugby player in the Cook Islands suffer a broken leg was “a far cry from Bruno Fernandes clutching his untouched face in the Liverpool debacle recently”.
Ratcliffe revealed that Amorim had half-jokingly told him to “f**k off” when he points out the error of his ways.
“I haven’t said that to Sir Jim yet!” Fernandes laughed. “But obviously, when he comes along to the training ground, we always see him.
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“We talk a little bit with him, but he doesn’t get much involved in technical things with us. Obviously, I don’t think we’ll be much able to do that as we’re not able to do the work he does. But obviously, we have a good connection with him.
“Every player, I think, every time he comes, he tries to see everyone, talk to everyone.”
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