Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes turned down strong interest and high-salary offers from three major giants of the Saudi Professional Football League—Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr and Al-Ittihad—during this summer's transfer window.
As early as before the start of this year's Club World Cup, Al-Hilal had launched an aggressive pursuit of B Fernandes. The club even held face-to-face talks with B Fernandes' agent team for a week in Saudi Arabia, and clearly stated that it was willing to submit a transfer offer of over £80 million to Manchester United. B Fernandes himself had shown interest in this opportunity, but after in-depth communication with his family, he finally decided to stay at Manchester United.
In late July, another Saudi powerhouse Al-Nassr also joined the race. Notably, Ronaldo, who plays for the team, had directly involved in the team's recruitment work after renewing his contract, and communicated with B Fernandes in person. However, B Fernandes frankly told Ronaldo that he still hoped to play in Europe's top leagues for at least one more season at that time.
Even though Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr were rejected one after another, Al-Ittihad of the Saudi League still tried to contact B Fernandes two weeks before the summer window closed. However, since the team had used up all their foreign player quotas, they had to sell existing foreign players first to register him—and this practical obstacle made the transfer difficult to advance.
In addition, as the summer transfer window of Europe's top five leagues officially closed, Manchester United could no longer find a replacement of equal ability if they lost B Fernandes. Even though the Saudi League's transfer window was still open, the club was unlikely to let go of the team's core at this time. Various signs indicate that B Fernandes is expected to stay at Manchester United, and he will still be a key figure in the team's midfield at least this season.
