Bruno Fernandes lifts lid on talks with Cristiano Ronaldo over mega-money move to Saudi Arabia in the summer... as Man United captain reveals the heart-to-heart chat he had with his wife that convinced him to stay

In the six years Bruno Fernandes has been away from Portugal, Manchester United's talismanic captain and his family have got used to the grey weather and not being close to the beach.

As he gazed out of a window at the club's Carrington training base on Friday morning and up at a typically moody Mancunian sky, Fernandes broke into a smile. 'I haven't seen a beach here,' he admitted. 'No, sorry, I have seen one. In Bournemouth, every time we play there. I go for a walk with Tom Heaton.'

It's fair to say sand wouldn't have been in short supply had Fernandes moved to Saudi Arabia in the summer and joined Al-Hilal in a blockbuster transfer.

The offer to United was in the region of £100million and was not rejected. The personal terms for Fernandes were life-changing, even for a player who earns close to £300,000-a-week.

His agent Miguel Pinho had talks in Riyadh. Fernandes spoke to Al-Hilal's president and, in the end, decided to stay where he was.

As he approaches a landmark 300th game as a United player against Brighton at Old Trafford on Saturday evening, the 31-year-old spoke openly about the possibility that his United career could have ended on 290 appearances.

The first conversation he had was with his wife Ana about the implications for the couple and their two young children. 'I said, "look, we have this offer from Saudi". Obviously wherever I have to go, they have to come.

'The first thing she said was, "have you achieved everything you wanted to achieve at the club?" because she knows that I haven't.

'We both came from families that were not rich. We're both not poor, we never missed food on the table, that's for sure.

'But we still have the family in Portugal. My mum has nine brothers and sisters so I'm very aware of the difficulties of life.

'Obviously, money is important to everyone. But I'm not in a position where I should be counting my money or having problems in the future if I do things right.

'Me and my family, we have our things. We like to have our luxury and stuff. But we're very aware of how much future we still have ahead of us, how much we want to give to our kids, how we want them to grow.

'So I know it would have been a massive change for me. If I want to spend money, I will spend money. I wouldn't even look at how much I have in my account.

'But I'm not struggling. I'm not someone that has spent all the money that I've earned through the years. To be honest, when I finish my career, I just want a relaxed life in my house, going to the coffee shop sometimes with my father.

'My family feels very well here. My kids love to go to school. They love the way they live here, even with the weather and everything. Speaking with my family, many times we say it feels more like home than the one we have in Portugal because we were there for two or three weeks. That was one of the many reasons behind it.

'I had the conversations with Al-Hilal, everyone is aware of that. There were also other clubs that tried after Al-Hilal, but obviously my answer wouldn't change and they a little bit felt they would be wasting their time.

'From Europe, I had some people talking to me but we never got into the place where there was an offer on the table or not. The concrete one was from Saudi.

'Al-Hilal could offer £80-100m. They were more than eager to pay for the player to go.'

The offer was tempting for United even though Fernandes was assured he remained part of the club's plans in meetings with chief executive Omar Berrada, director of football Jason Wilcox and head coach Ruben Amorim on the club's post-season trip to Malaysia.

'I had a conversation with Omar and he said "we won't say no but obviously we want you to stay at the club. If you want to go, we won't say that it's not a good offer for us because it's massive money".

'I always said that if the club was like "Bruno, we want to cash in, you are 30-years-old, we want to make some money, we don't think you can be part of the future project", I had to find a solution for myself and I will leave – but obviously that wasn't the case.'

Fernandes sought the advice of his close friend Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays for Al-Nassr, another of the Saudi clubs to pursue him. He spoke to his former Sporting Lisbon boss Jorge Jesus who left Al-Hilal in the summer and joined Al-Nassr.

'The first thing he said to me, "are you too expensive for the club?" I said 'there is no-one too expensive for that club!'.

'I spoke with Cristiano about the situation, about Saudi and everything. Cristiano had his opinion on what I should do and it was important for me to hear what he thought.'

So is the door still open to a move at the end of this season? 'I don't know,' admits Fernandes. 'I don't think they were very happy for me to reject the offer, obviously. I accept that, because the offer was very good in terms of salary. Everything was massive for me. It was a huge difference.

'I've seen a lot of people talking that I had an agreement to go already next season. If the club has done that agreement, it wasn't made with me.

'My agent also knows how I work. If he wants to talk to me, it will be after the World Cup. Because until then, I won't speak to anyone.'

United's dilemma to stick or twist was understandable. Of all the signings made by the club in the post-Ferguson era, the man from Maia near Porto has been the one unqualified success.

Fernandes will reach the 300-game mark having scored 100 goals and made 87 assists, better stats than any midfielder in Europe's top five leagues since he joined United from Sporting in January 2020 in a deal worth up to £68m.

He remembers signing on his daughter Matilde's birthday shortly before lockdown. Since then, he has become the beating heart of this United team, missing just 17 games – and only three through injury and illness.

Despite the remarkable statistics, however, Fernandes has only lifted two trophies at Old Trafford and still yearns to win the Premier League or Champions League before he leaves. He is under contract until June 2027 with the option of another year.

So has his United career been a success? 'Obviously yes,' he says. 'Because when I came to the club, it was a dream. So to fulfil that dream is success. I was never very sure that I would reach the level I reached.

'Probably people will say, 'yeah Bruno's doing very well', but that's not what I want. Obviously I want people to say good things about me, I would be lying if I said not, but I want the team achievements because that will be massive for me also.

'I haven't been able to give the success that this club wants and deserves, and also the success that I wanted in my head when I signed for United. Everyone knows my aim is to win the Premier League and the Champions League with the club. If I'm going to do it or not, I'm not going to be able to tell you.'

Despite being moved into a deeper midfield role after United signed two new No.10s in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo in the summer, Fernandes has still created more chances than any Premier League player this season.

'I have to run much more,' he says. 'Nowadays, if you run less than 10k I would say you're really down on your numbers. I can't tell how long I will be able to do it, but I've never had problems with this side of the game.'

Fernandes believes Cunha and Mbeumo are the right fit for United. 'We need to sign big characters, not good players, because at this club being a good player sometimes is not enough because of the pressure and attention we get.

'Cunha has that good arrogance to do the right things. We want you to take the risks, to shoot, to take people on, to create.

'Bryan is the same. He's not afraid to take the ball. Sometimes I get upset with him in training because he takes one touch more. I say, "Bryan, you don't need that. You can one touch and shoot because you're more than able to do that. You did that against us when you were at Brentford!"

Teammates have become used to Fernandes' criticism, and Amorim insisted on Friday that it comes from a good place.

United's head coach has been known to tell Sir Jim Ratcliffe to f*** off. 'I haven't said that to Sir Jim yet!' laughs Fernandes as he heads off to training.