Bruno Fernandes blocked Man Utd from signing ‘best player in the Premier League’
A report has claimed that Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes inadvertently blocked the Red Devils from signing Tottenham’s James Maddison.
The Portugal international has been one of the Red Devils best buys in recent years with Fernandes one of the main creative and attacking forces in Erik ten Hag’s side.
Since joining from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020, Fernandes has contributed 46 goals and 35 assists in 134 Premier League appearances for Man Utd.
Despite his impressive goal contribution record for Man Utd, Roy Keane recommended that Ten Hag stripped him of the captaincy over the weekend after he saw him “whinging” and “moaning” during their 3-0 loss to arch-rivals Manchester City.
“Today having watched him again I would take the captaincy off him 100 per cent,” Keane said on Sky Sports.
“I know it’s a big decision, obviously they changed the captaincy with Maguire, but Fernandes is not captain material.
“He is a talented player no doubt about it. But what I saw today – we’ve discussed many times before, it was last season at Liverpool – his whinging, his moaning and throwing his arms up in the air constantly.
“It really isn’t acceptable. From what we saw today, I’m thinking I would take that off him.
“You have to start somewhere. We were talking about where do you start [fixing the problems] – the manager, board level. I would start with that because the manager is capable of doing that.
“Fernandes is a brilliant footballer but in terms of captain material he is the opposite to what I would want in a captain.”
Tottenham star Maddison has been in incredible form for Spurs this season and the Manchester Evening News insist that Man Utd could’ve signed him over the summer but thought he was too similar to Fernandes.
The MEN claim: ‘Bellingham had his heart set on Real Madrid but [Declan] Rice or Maddison were attainable. Senior United sources say Maddison was too identical to Bruno Fernandes.’
Despite that, Man Utd moved for Mason Mount, who is not the ‘dynamic midfielder’ that the Red Devils needed in the summer and it is claimed the Old Trafford club ‘cut corners’ by signing the England international.
And, by doing that, they missed out on signing ‘the best player in the Premier League this season’ in Maddison, who has three goals and five assists in ten matches this season.
