For a multi-millionaire, elite-level – no laughing in the back – footballer with a reputation for throwing tantrums about as often as he creates chances for hilariously inferior teammates, Bruno Fernandes is eminently relatable.
He fundamentally just wants to be wanted.
And such is the absurd nature of This Is Manchester United Football Club We’re Talking About, not even 103 goals, 93 assists, 307 appearances and a handful of rejected offers to be happier, financially healthier and infinitely more rewarded elsewhere guarantees even that at the absolute worst of times.
Fernandes has gone into more depth on how he is “hurting” and “sad” at feeling that Manchester United “wanted me to go” but ultimately lacked the “courage” to take the Saudi offer.
But it is not particularly new information. In June he explained that he “spoke to the club, who said they weren’t willing to sell me, only if I wanted to leave.” By October he cited specific conversations with Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada, who he paraphrased as saying: “‘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.’”
On both occasions he credited Ruben Amorim with persuading him to stay, as was again the case when Fernandes opened up once more after the Bournemouth draw.
“The club wanted me to go, I have that in my head. I told the directors this, but I think they didn’t have the courage to make that decision.
“From the club’s side, I felt a bit like, ‘if you leave, it’s not so bad for us.’ It hurts me a lot. More than hurting, it makes me sad because I’m a player they have nothing to criticise about. I’m always available, I always play, good or bad. I give my all. Then you see things around you, players who don’t value the club as much and don’t defend the club as much… that makes you sad.”
The impotent fury he unleashed on the Old Trafford pitch at Manuel Ugarte, Casemiro and anyone else who came within his enraged orbit, triggered by another successful episode of Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United, certainly added credence to the idea he simply cares more than anyone about their plight, at least outwardly.
It is a connection and a “loyalty” Fernandes does not always feel has been reciprocated, a relationship Manchester United have exploited and taken for granted for more than half a decade.
But of course the killers of free lunches, charity donations and jobs looked at a nine-figure offer for a 30-year-old and did not immediately dismiss it out of hand. It was simple business practice to reserve it as a live option, albeit with keeping Fernandes the clear preference.
As the Portuguese himself said, “for them, money is more important than anything”.
For a player who has very possibly sacrificed trophies and awards in the name of the worst modern iteration of this club, however, it inevitably “hurts”.
“I was valued,” Fernandes said, “and what values me most has to be my club, although lately I feel like I’m on thin ice. In England, when a player starts approaching 30, they start thinking they need a makeover. It’s like the furniture.”
Fernandes, in an ideal world, should really be part of United for as long as he wants to be. But it also doesn’t work like that, especially when new landlords have taken over and are trying to run things properly.
Had he left for £100m, Fernandes would have been the most expensive 30-year-old sale in football history.
Manchester United executives had to consider it. Amorim had to overrule it. Fernandes has to be “hurt” by it. This is the sort of thing which fuels rather than foils him, as being behind only Erling Haaland for combined goals and assists in the Premier League so far this season suggests.
There is no wrong party here, only miscommunications and different perspectives. Fernandes, for all his faults, is just the high-maintenance partner who does sometimes need and deserve a bit more back.