This is more on Ruben Amorim than the club if it turns out that keeping Bruno Fernandes was an error.
I do believe that the club didn't mind selling him despite him being the player he is. We are desperate for money and that £100m could've helped us in getting what we want and earlier, which is always great.
I spoke about what to do with Bruno Fernandes when the Al-Hilal bid came in and I did mention how that fee could help improve the squad overall and allow United to not have to wait for the new football financial year to start before they can start to get deals over the line.
Why having to wait for the football financial year is a problem (if the club are waiting for it to do business) is because it comes a week before the start of pre-season training. While the tour to the US doesn't start until July 19, managers prefer to have as many new players in for training as possible. At the moment, all we have is Matheus Cunha.
There's also several players that need to be sold whom are still here.
Considering there's so much business to be done, will United get it all done in time before next week? Probably not.
United are also notorious for doing deals quite late in the window and end up overspending on players that had they had done the deals earlier, would've saved a good amount. Antony and Casemiro in Erik ten Hag's first season are great examples. Both Brazilians cost the club a total of £140m (£155m with add-ons) when really they should've been half that, or less.
Should we sign players this late again, the team would risk dropping points against the likes of Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea whom we play in our first five games of the season. Bring the new players in before that then maybe we stand a better chance of getting positive results.
Bruno himself is also quite a divisive player as half the fan base worship him and the other half think he's shite. This is because he can be very hit and miss as a footballer, leader and captain.
Keeping him has also asked the question of where would he play and who will have to be benched in order to play a player whom the manager believes is key to his rebuild and future.
Amorim looks to want to play his captain as a no 8. I think he's better suited as a no 10. I discussed his best position here but keeping the 31 year old creates more problems than it solves.
As he can be all over the place, who is best suited to be his partner because of this? What happens to the likes of Kobbie Mainoo and Toby Collyer? You cannot bench someone on £350k-a-week like Casemiro. Manuel Ugarte seems a better fit as the no 6 given his legs and energy compared to his Brazilian counterpart, so surely he has to play?
With the signing of Cunha and potentially Bryan Mbeumo, they will most likely be our starting two no 10s which is where I believe Bruno is best. You still have Amad, Mason Mount who is another player that the manager seems to favor, Joshua Zirkzee and Mainoo as well who can play the attacking midfield roles.
We cannot have all these guys start of course but some (potentially fan favorites) will have to be dropped in order to accommodate others.
If Bruno were sold, that would free up a spot in the team for someone to fill. Or, United could've looked to buy a player to fill that role.
We're linked to both Paulinha and Richard Rios but why would we buy players in a position where we're already stacked? Some of these midfielders might also be better suited to what we need and to Amorim's system as again, does Bruno actually work in this 3-4-2-1?
This is where you look at the manager. He was adamant on keeping Bruno Fernandes when looking at some of his quotes. The United boss was reluctant to let him go to Real Madrid and spoke about how he is important to this team.
"No, it’s not going to happen. He’s not going anywhere because I’ve already told him" - Amorim on rumors linking Bruno to Real Madrid.
"We want to keep the best players and Bruno is clearly one of the top players in the world [...]the importance he has during his five years here."
You do have to back the manager on what he wants whether you agree with it or not but at times, you do have to make the decision as a club that certain things just cannot be done.
Whether Amorim wants more midfielders or not, we cannot bring more in because there's no place to fit them.
Having a large squad isn't a bad thing and you do need a lot of players but that's only when you're playing more than once a week. With no European football and potentially being knocked out early in the cup competitions, United may not have that many games to play meaning we don't need too many players.
This would also add to an already bloated wage bill which INEOS want to reduce. The skipper was also given a new deal by INEOS (ironically) which took him from £240k-a-week which was an increase in itself from £100k-a-week, to his current wage of £300k-a-week. I don't think he was deserving of another increase after that raise from his original wage.
There's arguments to be made why he should stay and why he should go to be sure, but I'm just looking at it all and I believe it was better if we let him go.
There seems to be more benefits to selling him than keeping him especially as the window has gone on and the talk about how United are waiting for the 1st of July for the new football financial year to kick in before doing business.
I understand that he is an important player and the captain besides but when such a player cannot even show up in a European final, are they worthy of actually being at United?
I guess for Amorim, this better work out, otherwise...
With all this being said, do you think that Ruben Amorim was correct in wanting to keep Bruno Fernandes or was he wrong?
Ruben Amorim was adamant on keeping captain Bruno Fernandes despite £100m offer from Al-Hilal | Ruben Amorim and Bruno Fernandes during Man Utd 4-1 loss to Newcastle | Creator: George Wood | Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2025 Getty Images via Man Utd News