Bruno Fernandes was left on the bench by Michael Carrick in Manchester United's 3-0 loss to Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon, and his social media activity has courted attention. The club captain has made his thoughts extremely clear on the chaos surrounding Manchester United right now, and it's not the first time he has been vocal about his frustrations during his career.
Fernandes was an unused substitute during United's 3-0 loss to Bournemouth on Sunday, cutting a solemn figure during warm-ups and walking down the tunnel at full-time. Michael Carrick stated it was a footballing decision to keep the Portuguese midfielder on the bench, saying: "Picking the team is always a difficult decision. We've got to make what we feel is the right one for the team to try to get the performance we want. Unfortunately for everyone we didn't manage to get the right result. We want to push forward and create more, we could've done certain things but not enough really and that's pretty clear."
'Don't care' admission
Most recently, Fernandes has liked a social media post that appears to tell United that he "doesn't care." The midfielder's official account sent a thumbs up to a post that read: "Never push a loyal person to the point where they no longer care." This online interaction came after his bench-warming stint against Bournemouth on Sunday, when the players were booed off the pitch by fans, who aimed chants at the Glazers, Jason Wilcox and Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Fernandes was benched by Carrick after questioning the manager's tactics following a 4-1 defeat in the Champions League to Como. Speaking to TNT Sports post-match, the club captain explained: "It's a decision from the staff to not press man-to-man and sometimes leave space behind and try to get the ball." When asked if he felt the manager got the tactics wrong, Fernandes added: "That's on the manager and staff to see it, not me."
Leaked WhatsApp rant
Fernandes showed his fierce competitive nature before pulling on a United shirt with a passionate rant while at Sporting CP. The midfielder spent three years with the Portuguese side and once sent a voice note to his team-mates to criticise their poor performances. In 2020, local news outlet Record quoted Fernandes in the leaked WhatsApp voice message as saying: "Bro, I don't say anything! I honestly, if you want me to tell you, I'd rather not comment on anything. I think very badly of some of the attitude of some players. Actually not a certain attitude, it's an attitude that does not exist. There are players who have no attitude here, bro. They don't want to be here, they don't want to play. They don't want to be here then f*** off, let them say they don't want to play. They spend a year here getting money, and then they f*** off, bro. S*** attitude bro, for f**** sake."
Fernandes also slammed the media who were criticising the club and backed the supporters who had been protesting against Sporting in 2018. He said: "They are focused on talking badly about players and giving news that only causes confusion and s***. Just yesterday 'invasion of supporters'. What invasion? They went there to complain, it's their right! They went there to sing and send some words. What do we want? We don't beat anyone and we want what? Applause in all games? That's all I needed, bro! Come and cheer us always! We lost at home against Famalicao and we want to be applauded… Applauded?"
Contract frustration
Fernandes had also been unhappy with his contract four years ago after declining an extension option. The 32-year-old decided to turn down a new deal in 2022, with The Athletic reporting at the time that the club wanted to offer him a well-deserved salary upgrade. However, the Portugal international's agents turned down the contract and talks stalled at this point. Fernandes wanted to match his team-mates' wages at that point, with Cristiano Ronaldo on £400,000 a week and the likes of Jadon Sancho, Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani earning £200,000.
The midfielder eventually signed a new deal in 2024, tying him to the club until 2027 with an option to extend for another season. However, ex-England striker Darren Bent believes United will offload Fernandes in January, telling talkSPORT it is the best decision for all involved. Bent said: "I think for someone like Bruno – January, if you can get a big chunk of dough from Saudi. You can get £80m from Saudi, of course you would. At some point, you're going to have to move forward. And I've said it before, it's going to hurt. Moving forward is going to hurt because I've seen it first-hand. At some point, you have to move on from it. And if that's the manager, Bruno Fernandes, because some of the players at Manchester United now shouldn't still be there at all. He's undroppable at the minute not because of his performances, it's the fact that he's [Carrick] got no one else."
