Man Utd miss out on their Coutinho moment as Bruno Fernandes snubs Al-Hilal – so where does he fit into their plans?

OH, to be a fly on the wall of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s office when news broke that Bruno Fernandes had snubbed a mega £100million bid from Saudi Arabia.

Manchester United’s part-owner could not have believed his luck when Al-Hilal offered to take captain Fernandes, who turns 31 in September, off their hands and give the Red Devils a much-needed cash injection.

Ratcliffe, who claimed the “bloated” club was set to go “bust at Christmas”, has led a ruthless cost-cutting drive at Old Trafford — culling 450 staff including the much-loved receptionists and also withdrew free canteen food for workers at the ground.

So to have the potential of receiving a nine-figure sum for a player whose legs are only going to get wearier was almost too good to be true.

And it turned out to be . . . but only because Fernandes rejected Al-Hilal’s advances.

Even the offer of tax-free £700,000-a-week wages was not enough to lure the Portuguese star to the Middle East.

Yet Fernandes’ admirable resistance has thrown United’s chaotic transfer plans up in the air once again.

It is back to the drawing board for Ratcliffe and manager Ruben Amorim, who are under pressure to juggle the books with Profit and Sustainability Rules after their failure to qualify for Europe.

Despite Fernandes turning down the Saudi riches, the midfielder could still be a target for European clubs this summer — although the offers are unlikely to be even half the astonishing transfer fee on offer from Al-Hilal.

And even if he stays, Red Devils fans will now be debating where  Fernandes fits into Amorim’s rebuild next season?

Amorim is wedded to his 3-4-3 formation and his early transfer activity seems to match up.

Wolves’ Matheus Cunha has signed in a £62.5m deal and Bryan Mbeumo is now a £50m target from Brentford, with the duo  expected to play in the attacking positions behind the lone striker.

Amad Diallo and Alejandro Garnacho, linked with Chelsea and Napoli, are other options for the wide forward roles.

That quartet is likely to see Fernandes move further back to one of the two central midfield berths which he fulfilled in the Europa League final loss to Tottenham.

Amorim has other options in the centre of the park, including Manuel Ugarte, Casemiro, Kobbie Mainoo and Mason Mount.

Casemiro is on big wages, Amorim knows Ugarte well from their time together at Sporting Lisbon and the United boss lavished praise on Mount following his return to fitness towards the end of the season.

While homegrown talent Mainoo, 20, is an intriguing prospect.

So where will Fernandes play on a regular basis? In last season’s disastrous campaign, Amorim relied heavily on  talismanic Fernandes to dig his woeful 15th-placed Prem side out of the mire, netting 19 times in all competitions.

Fernandes’ quality and consistency led to the eye-watering bid from Saudi and the  £100m fee will play on Ratcliffe’s mind in their ‘Mission 21’ operation to  knock Liverpool “off their perch” once again.

The Reds went through a similar scenario over seven years ago when they sold star man Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for a staggering £142m.

The transfer fee gave Jurgen Klopp the chance to rebuild as the German used that money to bring in Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, and his new spine delivered the Champions League and Premier League titles.

If Fernandes remains at United then club legend Gary Neville believes Garnacho, Marcus Rashford, Antony and Jadon Sancho must all leave.

Even if he stays, Red Devils fans will now be debating where Fernandes fits into Amorim’s rebuild next season?

Garnacho clashed with Amorim after the Bilbao loss to Tottenham, while the other three have all been out on loan this season.

Neville said: “If players are taking on and questioning the manager in public through social media, the manager has to win.

“If the manager doesn’t win, the manager has to leave and I don’t think that’s going to happen this time. That’s happened far too many times before. I think Garnacho will leave purely because of that, I think they’ve had enough.

“Marcus has to leave for him and the club. I think that ship has sailed and he needs to find himself another club.

“It  sounds to me like Villa aren’t going to keep him. I would say for Marcus’ and United’s sake that it feels like that path has come to an end.

“I feel a little bit similarly with Jadon as I do with Marcus. I’d be a bit concerned that Chelsea haven’t made the noises that they’re going to keep him.  United have to make sure they part ways with him.

“Antony has gone to Spain and having seen a couple of players that I played with not do it Old Trafford but do it in Spain . . . I think he’s suited down to the ground and it’s been proven.”

Ratcliffe may have canned hundreds of local staff but he will soon discover it’s much harder to get rid of superstar players who are tied down to huge contracts.