Interestingly, Fernandes is not seeking specific assurances regarding the club's summer transfer targets. While United have been linked with moves for the likes of Elliot Anderson, Adam Wharton, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali, the captain is not demanding to know the details of the recruitment shortlist. Instead, his focus remains on the structural health of the project, namely the manager and the competition status. He wants to know that the club's fundamental ambitions match his own, rather than focusing on individual names that might arrive in the transfer window.
The playmaker's loyalty has already been tested, having rejected significant interest from the Middle East to stay in Manchester. Fernandes noted the lack of resolve from some within the club during that period, stating: “I could have left like many people do and said: ‘I want to leave, I don’t want to train, I just want to leave for €20-30 million, so they pay me more on the other side.’ But I never did that. I never felt in a position to do it, because I felt that the empathy and affection I had for the club were the same. But it gets to a point where, for them, money is more important than anything. The club wanted me to go, I have that in my head. I told the directors that, but I think they didn’t have the courage to make that decision, because the manager wanted me. If I had said I wanted to leave, they would have let me go.”