Bruno Fernandes has reportedly made a final decision on a big-money proposal from Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal. The Manchester United captain was said to be considering a move to the Middle East, having opened the door to an Old Trafford exit, following a disastrous club season.
After defeat in the Europa League final to Tottenham, Fernandes admitted that he would be willing to leave Manchester after five years, if the club wanted to sell him and reinvest the funds into overhauling the squad. That process has already begun with Matheus Cunha joining for £62.5million and Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo could follow.
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claims that a final decision has been made by Fernandes, after Al-Hilal put a very short deadline on negotiations with the player. They were prepared to pay United a fee in the region of £80million for the 30-year-old, whose wages would triple in Saudi Arabia.
However, the skipper has turned down the proposal and wants to continue playing football in Europe. He is desperate to play at the highest level, despite a ‘crazy’ amount of money being offered to the midfielder.
Speaking after a heartbreaking defeat to Spurs in Bilbao, which confirmed that United would not be competing in Europe at all next season, Fernandes said: “I have always been honest. If the club thinks it’s time to part ways because they want to do some cashing in or whatever, it’s what it is.
“Football sometimes is like this. I’ve always said I will be here until the club says to me that it’s time to go. I’m eager to do more, to be able to bring the club to the great days. The day that the club thinks that I’m too much or it’s time to part ways, football is like this, you never know it. But I’ve always said it and I keep my word in the same way.”
Last week, United boss Ruben Amorim claimed that Fernandes wanted to stay at Old Trafford and the club would have to find another way to raise funds.
“I think he’s seeing us taking some actions to change things and that’s all he asks,” Amorim said after a friendly win over the Hong Kong national team. “I think he wants to stay. He is saying no to a lot of things, but that shows he wants to win. He’s really young, he’s really good, he needs to be in the best league in the world.”
Amorim then added: “We can find another way to earn money.”
After losing the Europa League final, every United player was made available for sale for the right price, including Fernandes.
United were said to be calm throughout the situation regarding their skipper and a move to Al-Hilal, where he would have joined up with Portugal team-mates Joao Cancelo and Ruben Neves alongside the likes of Aleksandar Mitrovic and Kalidou Koulibaly.
Instead, the Red Devils will look to move on Alejandro Garnacho, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Antony as they look to boost the coffers ahead of a big summer of spending.
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