In a second excerpt from the same interview released by Canal 11 (via Maisfutebol), Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes set out a clear list of potential destinations while reflecting on his relationship with the club. Fernandes said he had been affected by recent events at Old Trafford, telling reporters he felt \u201churt\u201d and \u201csad\u201d by the club\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n
On his future he was candid. \u201cI want to stay at Man Utd as long as I feel wanted,\u201d he said. He added that playing in Spain would appeal and that Italy remains on his list of possibilities: \u201cI would like to experience the Spanish league and fight for major titles in Italy. I have many connections with Italy, my daughter was born there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fernandes traced those Italian ties back to his teenage years. At 17 he moved to Novara after being passed over by the youth systems of Portugal\u2019s biggest clubs. He admitted he was so homesick he nearly returned home until his then-girlfriend Ana, now his wife, persuaded him to stay and commit to his career.<\/p>\n
After one season at Novara he moved on to Udinese. Across spells with Udinese and Sampdoria, Fernandes made 119 Serie A appearances but never finished higher than 10th in the table.<\/p>\n
The interview also revisited previously stated openness to alternative moves. \u201cIf one day I have to play in Saudi Arabia, I\u2019ll play in Saudi Arabia,\u201d he said. At the same time Fernandes did not close the door on a return to his native country: \u201cI\u2019ve already thought about returning to Portugal,\u201d he revealed.<\/p>\n
On the subject of Sporting, the club where he began his senior career, Fernandes was measured: \u201cOut of affection and respect, my first choice would be Sporting. If I were to be happy, it would be with Sporting. But I don\u2019t want to spoil the image I have. Even for family reasons, I\u2019d like to return to Portugal. But I don\u2019t want to drag things out, I want to add something.\u201d<\/p>\n
The interview will likely intensify speculation about his next steps, with Spain, Italy and a return to Portugal all explicitly on the table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bruno Fernandes says he is ‘hurt’ by club actions and reveals desire to play in Spain or Italy also<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,1163],"tags":[983,342,986],"class_list":["post-5165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-transfers","tag-agents","tag-bruno-fernandes","tag-contract-standoff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}