Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has revealed how the rest of Ruben Amorim's squad have reacted to Jim Ratcliffe saying that several players were overpaid and not good enough. Ahead of the announcement of United's new 100,000-seater stadium, the minority stakeholder of the football club did a media tour in which he discussed INEOS' first year at United and addressed several key topics as the Red Devils continue to struggle on the pitch.
As well as insinuating that the club was at risk of being left without any money by Christmas if cost-cutting measures weren't implemented, the British billionaire also named and shamed certain players he believed United paid over the odds for, including Andre Onana, Casemiro, and Rasmus Hojlund. Now, Fernandes has detailed the reaction in the dressing room towards the comments.
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The captain also put blame on the club for agreeing to lucrative contracts
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Speaking after netting an all-important hat-trick in United's Europa League round of 16 victory against Real Sociedad, the Portuguese international told the media that his teammates were left unhappy by the co-owner's remarks, while also criticising the club for putting players on contracts that they now believe are above the value of the players who are on them.
"It’s not nice to hear certain things obviously. I don’t think that any player likes to hear criticism or things that are talked about you, that you’re not good enough or you’re overpaid or whatever.
"Everyone has their own contract. The club agrees to do the contracts at the time you come here or at the time you do a new contract or whatever and it’s about yourself proving that you can be important for the club."
Ratcliffe did not hold back in his comments as he explained how the club were still financially paying for their poor recruitment in the transfer market, including still paying off Jadon Sancho's transfer fee despite the fact he is not currently at the club.
"If you look at the players we are buying this summer, that we didn't buy, we're buying Antony, we're buying Casemiro, we're buying Onana, we're buying Hojlund, we're buying Sancho," the 72-year-old explained. "These are all things from the past, whether we like it or not, we've inherited those things and have to sort that out."
"Some are not good enough and some probably are overpaid."
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The captain signed a new contract in the summer but did consider an exit
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Fernandes also revealed just how close he came to leaving Old Trafford last summer prior to extending his stay at the club with a new contract. The 30-year-old disclosed he held discussions with former manager Erik ten Hag before deciding to commit his future to the English giants.
"I sat with the club because I had an offer to leave," Fernandes detailed. "We talked about the possibility of me leaving the club or staying. They said what they wanted from me. I just asked if they still see me as part of the future of the club or not. I spoke at the time with Ten Hag also.
"He was very clear with me, the club was very clear with me, that they thought I would be a big part of this rebuild. I thought that we could be successful."
Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes. Related
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All statistics courtesy of Capology - accurate as of 14/03/2025.