LONDON – In the six years Bruno Fernandes has been away from Portugal, Manchester United’s talismanic captain and his family have got used to the grey weather and not being close to the beach.
As he gazed out of a window at the club’s Carrington training base yesterday morning and up at a typically moody Mancunian sky, Fernandes broke into a smile. “I haven’t seen a beach here,” he admitted. “No, sorry, I have seen one. In Bournemouth, every time we play there. I go for a walk with Tom Heaton.”
It’s fair to say sand wouldn’t have been in short supply had Fernandes moved to Saudi Arabia in the summer and joined Al-Hilal in a blockbuster transfer.
The offer to United was in the region of £100 million and was not rejected. The personal terms for Fernandes were life-changing, even for a player who earns close to £300 000-a-week.
His agent Miguel Pinho had talks in Riyadh. Fernandes spoke to Al-Hilal’s president and, in the end, decided to stay where he was.
As he approaches a landmark 300th game as a United player against Brighton at Old Trafford tonight, the 31-year-old spoke openly about the possibility that his United career could have ended on 290 appearances.
The first conversation he had was with his wife Ana about the implications for the couple and their two young children. “I said, ‘look, we have this offer from Saudi’. Obviously wherever I have to go, they have to come.
“The first thing she said was, ‘have you achieved everything you wanted to achieve at the club?’ because she knows that I haven’t.
“We both came from families that were not rich. We’re both not poor, we never missed food on the table, that’s for sure.
“But we still have the family in Portugal. My mum has nine brothers and sisters so I’m very aware of the difficulties of life.
“Obviously, money is important to everyone, but I’m not in a position where I should be counting my money or having problems in the future if I do things right.
“Me and my family, we have our things. We like to have our luxury and stuff, but we’re very aware of how much future we still have ahead of us, how much we want to give to our children, how we want them to grow.”
In the six years Bruno Fernandes has been away from Portugal, Manchester United’s talismanic captain and his family have got used to the grey weather and not being close to the beach. (Pic: The New York Times)