The feud escalated when Fernandes appeared on theDiary of a CEO podcast to address Keane's recent comments onThe Overlap. The midfielder claimed that Keane had misrepresented his words following a game against Nottingham Forest, where the pundit accused him of prioritising individual assist records over team success. Fernandesaccused the club legend of lying, stating that he never made the comments Kean attributed to him.
Fernandes told host Steven Bartlett: "I've always said I don't mind criticism. I always take criticism from everyone and I never reply to anything. People have an opinion, they think it's good, bad or whatever. What I don't like is when people lie about things.
He added: "This case that you said about Roy Keane, basically what he said is a lie because either he saw some other interview or he can't say that I said one thing that I've just not said. I accept his criticism, whether he likes me as a player or not, likes me as a person or not. But what I don't like, is that he puts words in my mouth that has not been said."