Tag: Bruno Fernandes

Bruno Fernandes has offered to leave Manchester United if the club need to cash in on him in order to rebuild after the heartbreak of their Europa League final defeat by Tottenham.

United lost 1-0 in Bilbao on Wednesday courtesy of a Brennan Johnson goal, compounding a miserable season for the club.

Manager Ruben Amorim said after the defeat that if the club no longer wanted him he would quit “without any conversation about compensation”.

Now his captain, 30, has followed suit, aware of United’s need for an overhaul of the playing staff despite financial constraints.

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 “I have always been honest. I’ve always said I will be here until the club says to me that it’s time to go,” said Fernandes.

 “I’m eager to do more, to be able to bring the club to the great days. On 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. If the club thinks it’s time to part ways because they want to do some cashing in or whatever, it is what it is and football sometimes is like this.”

Fernandes has been United’s standout player for United this season but failed to make an impact against Spurs at the San Mames stadium.

He said the defeat was a crushing blow.

“We wanted to win more than anything in this final,” he said. “It’s a very sad day because we’ve done some very good things in this competition until today.

 “But today (Wednesday) was the day that mattered, the most important day of the competition. It was the day we could have been in the history of the Europa League, but it’s not like that. And football is cruel, and it’s been our turn to lose.”

The midfielder, who joined United in 2020, insisted his compatriot Amorim was still the right man to lead United, despite a terrible record since arriving at Old Trafford in November.

United have won just six league games on his watch and are 16th in the Premier League, destined for their lowest finish since relegation in 1974.

 “We (the players) just agreed that he’s the right man,” said Fernandes. “He has done a lot of good things. We know that the manager is looked at by the results.

 “Obviously we see more than that as players. We know for everyone it will be about him bringing back the positivity in the club.

 “To try to bring the club back to fight for trophies, fight for the big trophies. And we all agree that he’s the right man.”

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes believes new boss Ruben Amorim can have the same massive impact at Old Trafford that the young manager had at Portuguese club Sporting.

Amorim, 39, arrived at United’s training base Carrington on Monday, a day after his final match with Sporting – a 4-2 league victory over Braga.

It was Sporting’s 11th successive win as they seek to clinch back-to-back Primeira Liga titles for the first time since the 1950s.

Sporting went almost 20 years without winning the league until Amorim led them to the title in 2021 and the club’s transformation impressed many, including compatriot Fernandes.

“I hope he does the same here because you know sometimes a person can change the energy of a space, if it’s the right moment,” Fernandes told United’s in-house media.

“We hope that he can come, and this is the right moment for him to come and bring his energy, bring his qualities and his knowledge of football, because he’s done something really, really special at Sporting.

“If someone doubts that, it’s about just looking at the past. Sporting (went) about 20 years without winning the league, and he got back to win the league, and he won it two times in four years with a really youthful team, in a moment of change.”

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Amorim was appointed head coach after manager Erik ten Hag was sacked on Oct. 28 after a string of bad results which left United languishing in 14th in the Premier League standings.

2014 and 2018, Jordaan used the organisation’s resources for his personal gain.

United had three wins and a draw from the four games interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy took charge, climbing to 13th and four points off the top three.

Van Nistelrooy left the club on Monday after learning he would not be a part of Amorim’s staff.

Amorim immediately endeared himself to the Old Trafford faithful when his Sporting side thrashed Manchester City 4-1 in the Champions League on Nov. 5.

Fans may have to be patient in waiting to see United take their rivals apart in such a manner but Fernandes backed Amorim to find a way to mould the team in his style.

“He’s a really smart manager that has done really good things for Sporting tactically,” Fernandes said. “But obviously as we always say, you can’t bring or transform what he has done at Sporting into here, because you have different players, you have different ways of playing and everything.

“I’m pretty sure that the idea of football he has, independent of the way he wants to play, is going to be a good one and it’s going to bring us success.”

Amorim’s first United game in charge is a league clash away at Ipswich Town on Nov. 24.