Bruno Fernandes: I stayed at Man Utd after my wife told me to ‘achieve dreams’
By Mark Walker, Press Association
Bruno Fernandes has revealed the key role his wife played in his decision to stay at Manchester United last summer.
The 31-year-old United captain was linked with a big-money move to the Saudi Pro-League and it has been reported his agent Miguel Pinho was in talks with Al-Hilal over a possible £100million transfer.
Fernandes told the Wayne Rooney Show on BBC Sport: “I stayed because I thought I still had something that I can give back to the club.
“Obviously the Saudi situation, with the money… there was a lot. The good thing I have in my family is that my wife is pretty down to earth like me.
“We’re very aware that we don’t want to be the richest person in the world.
“We just want to be the ones that have achieved the dreams they had and live a good life with their kids and trying to be as successful as possible.
“The words of my wife were like, ‘have you achieved your dreams? Have you achieved everything you wanted?’
“And that small thing she said made me understand that she’s on the same page as me. Let’s keep trying and see where this takes me.”
Fernandes appears to have vindicated his decision by producing some of his best form for United this season as they chase a place in the Champions League.
He has scored eight Premier League goals and made 18 assists, two short of the record currently shared by Kevin De Bruyne and Thierry Henry.
Former England skipper Rooney told Fernandes that he deserved to win this season’s player of the year awards and the Portugal midfielder said it was a “huge privilege to be in the conversation”.
“You can say as many times as you want that you want to win trophies collectively. That is true. But these individual accolades are always nice on the personal side,” he added.
“It is players voting for you. That has a different impact because you have been playing against them.
“If they recognise you as one of the best in the league, it’s a huge privilege.”
