Fernandinho left Manchester City in 2022 to return to Brazil to play for former club Atletico Paranaense - a club he left in January.
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Txiki Begiristain at a UEFA Youth League game with Fernandinho
Txiki Begiristain at a UEFA Youth League game with Fernandinho
(Image: Getty )
Fernandinho is without a club after leaving Atletico Paranaense at the start of this year, as rumours circulate over his potential retirement and a move into coaching.
The Manchester City legend left the Etihad in 2022, returning to Brazil to former club Paranaense where he played for two seasons, making nearly 100 appearances. However, injury disrupted Fernandinho's second campaign and the club were relegated at the end of the 2024 season.
And on January 1, the 39-year-old confirmed he would not be extending his stay at his boyhood club, confirming he would take a 'new path' but without mentioning any retirement.
A new documentary series by City Studios followed Fernandinho's final season in Brazil but did not cover his exit from the club. However, it did offer some insight into the Brazilian's plans for the future.
Last year, he completed a FIFA Diploma in Club Management, and in the documentary he is filmed in a phone conversation with City Sporting Director Txiki Begiristain who asks him when he will become a manager.
Fernandinho replied: "We'll see, in January I'll be in Manchester so we'll chat and see what the future holds."
Fernandinho and Begiristain spent time together last month, with the former captain helping welcome new Brazilian signing Vitor Reis to the club and also spending time around the training ground and watching training sessions.
Begiristain also explained his reasons for stepping down from his role at the end of the season in that same conversation. "I'm a bit tired. I need to rest," he told Fernandinho.
"I'm looking forward to enjoying these moments with my family and to stop being so connected with the tension and activity that we have in this business. And then we'll see what I'll do."
For all the hints of a coaching career, however, Fernandinho also talks of a desire to keep playing in the documentary, even when told of his long-term injury last season. "The desire to keep playing is strong, very strong, but we'll see," he said at one stage last year. "I'll keep playing until I physically can't any more, even if I'm dragging myself across the pitch."
One report suggests Fernandinho has been sounded out for a place in Pep Guardiola's coaching staff. In the documentary he also said: "I miss them [the City fans], they miss me, and some time soon we're going to be together." However, that could equally be referring to his January trip back to Manchester as much as any promise of a professional return to the Etihad.
With no retirement confirmed yet, but steps taken over a future management career, Fernandinho would be a popular appointment if he was persuaded to return to City as a coach - even if it seems like he has not given up on extending his playing career just yet.