Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim endured a nightmare first season at Old Trafford, but as he looks for a much improved second campaign, will be pleased to have his captain and best player, Bruno Fernandes, sticking around
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07:46, 17 Jun 2025
Bruno Fernandes looks on during a game with Manchester United
Bruno Fernandes is staying at Manchester United to lead the club into another new era
(Image: Getty Images)
Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand admits he's not sure he'd have been able to reject Saudi Arabia's millions like Bruno Fernandes did. The United captain turned down a £100m transfer to Al Hilal earlier this month, which would have netted him in the region of £700k-a-week, to stay at Old Trafford and lead Ruben Amorim's rebuild.
Fernandes, who will soon be 30, decided he didn't want to leave the Premier League for Saudi at this stage of his career, despite United's dismal 2024-25 campaign, which saw them finish 15th in the top flight and fail to qualify for Europe.
And club legend Ferdinand believes that his decision to snub a move away and continue fighting to get United back where they believe they should be, tells fans everything they need to know about their talisman.
"The one thing it says to me, there's a loyalty, the 46-year-old said, speaking exclusively to Mirror Football. "And I think that word gets banded about quite a lot, but we don't really see it often from the club's point of view and the players.
"And listen, I understand it's a business. But I think he looks at this as pure, 'I've got unfinished business at United. There's stuff I want to do here. Yes, I've been paid well here. The fans love me.' But I think he's in the game of wanting to give back after all he's received. So I've got nothing but respect for him. I would have understood him leaving if he left, 100 percent.
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"But the fact that he stayed and said, listen, there's stuff for me still to do here. I think it's a testament to him as a person, but also another reason why the managers comfortably give him the armband."
And Ferdinand admitted: "If I was him, I think I'd have found it difficult to say no. I've got to be honest."
One thing that badly hampered United last term was their struggles in front of goal. They have already struck a £62.5m deal with Wolves for Matheus Cunha as they bid to rectify that issue, with Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo now being targeted too. A new No.9 is also on their list, with Viktor Gyokeres and Hugo Ekitike both having been mooted as potential arrivals.
On the personal front, ex-England ace Ferdinand recently launched his Career Transfer Hub in collaboration with Talking Futures, with hopes of bridging the gap between teenagers and their parents in terms of future planning. He says about the cause: " I think it's about empowering kind of families to talk more about education, especially parents.
"I think we're comfortable talking about a lot of things, i.e. football, a lot of the time in and around the front room or across the table with your kids, but getting that kind of common ground when you're talking about education, sometimes it's quite difficult, even I've found it difficult at times.
Rio Ferdinand poses at a Talking Futures event
Rio Ferdinand has launched the Career Transfer Hub with Talking Futures
"So something like this is definitely a good way in and a good avenue in to kind of having those conversations about what's next in your life, education wise, where do you see yourself going? What paths are you looking at?
"And this is a great, I think, avenue for parents to really kind of touch the paper and go, right, listen, here we go, and start walking their kids down the right path, giving them a little bit of autonomy over it, but also guide them a little bit at the same time.
"So I wish I'd had this when I was younger - although I had football, which I was quite fortunate with."
Rio Ferdinand has partnered with Talking Futures to launch the Career Transfer Hub – giving parents access to information on their child’s education options just like football agents have transfer insiders, negotiation teams and career scouts. You can find out more here.
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