Bruno Fernandes has spoken about his ambitions for Manchester United and his desire to lift the game’s biggest trophies, in a conversation with former United captain Wayne Rooney.
The two men, who never played together but share a deep connection to Old Trafford, sat down for a 40-minute interview on The Wayne Rooney Show, covering everything from Fernandes’ decision to stay at the club last summer to his memories of Euro 2004 and his determination to leave a legacy at United.
“I want to win the Premier League,” Fernandes said. “I want to win the Champions League. I never hide from that.”
The Saudi decision
It is a sobering thought that Fernandes came close to leaving Old Trafford last summer. Al Hilal made a significant offer, and club officials told the 31-year-old they would not stand in his way. Fernandes has previously spoken about the hurt he felt at that.
In the end, it was a conversation with his wife that settled the matter.
“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.”
United had finished 15th the previous season, their worst league campaign since the 1973-74 relegation year. Fernandes was not prepared to walk away in that moment.
“I didn’t want to leave the club at the point where we were struggling,” he said.
Chasing history with five games left
The decision to stay has produced one of the great individual seasons in Premier League history. Fernandes has eight goals and 18 assists in the league this season – two shy of the all-time record of 20, jointly held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.
He has also made 106 goals in 322 appearances for the club since joining in January 2020, surpassing 100 assists for the club in all competitions during the campaign.
Rooney, United’s all-time record scorer with 253 goals, is in no doubt about Fernandes’ standing. He believes the captain should win both the players’ and writers’ player of the year awards, as Rooney himself did in 2010.
“It’s a huge privilege to be in the conversation,” Fernandes said. “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. 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.”
‘When Michael came in, we never thought we’d be third’
Fernandes also spoke warmly about the impact of Michael Carrick, who replaced Ruben Amorim in January and has since steered United into third place. The pair worked together under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and Fernandes had spotted Carrick’s managerial potential long before the appointment.
“He had three games as a manager. The way he prepared for the games and the way he spoke to us made you think he was more than an assistant manager. He was ready for the next step.
“When he came in, he had the positive energy the team needed. Not just nice words but when he needed something stronger, or something softer, something to bring the team together. That was not just important for the team but the whole environment.
“We weren’t thinking about what could have been or what we should have done. Very quickly we changed to, ‘it didn’t work out, let’s turn on to the other one and push to achieve what we want this season’. We have got very good results. This league is so tough and at this moment, we are in the best position we could be. When Michael came in, we never thought at this moment, we would be third.”
United need a maximum of six points from their final five games to secure Champions League qualification, with Monday’s home match against Brentford up next.
