Bruno Fernandes admits he was ‘really sad’ that Manchester United were unable to sign Declan Rice ahead of Arsenal.
United were in the running to sign Rice before he decided to join Arsenal in a £105 million deal from West Ham in 2023.
Rice has been one of Arsenal’s standout players this season as Mikel Arteta’s side close in on the club’s first Premier League title since 2004, while they also have the chance for a double as they meet Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final on May 30.
Fernandes, meanwhile, has once again been United’s driving force this season and is currently on 19 assists for the campaign, just one behind the all-time record which is jointly held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.
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Last week, Fernandes won the Football Writers’ Association’s men’s Footballer of the Year award and edged out Rice by just 28 votes.
In an interview with the FWA, Fernandes paid tribute to Rice and revealed he still keeps in touch with the Arsenal midfielder after they trained together in Portugal three years ago.
‘To be honest, I admire him [Rice] a lot, first of all as a person because I knew him from the Algarve when we were training together and everything,’ Fernandes said in an interview with Joel Beya for the FWA.
‘Obviously I knew him already from West Ham and we all knew the qualities he had and I’ve always thought that Rice was a player to play Man United.
‘I was really sad when he chose to go to Arsenal.
‘I didn’t know if it was the opportunity or the chance for him to come to Manchester United, but I always thought he would be a perfect fit for our club, not just for the player he is but for the person he is and professional he showed me and his personality.
‘I think what he has been doing this season is great, it’s a different position, it’s a different style of play. He’s a player that doesn’t need to get, in his position, assists as much, he doesn’t need to score as much because it demands different things, and the way Arsenal plays is different from the way we play, so we can’t compare the players.
‘But what we can say is he has been one of the standout players from the Premier League this season. As I said before, I’m very happy I won it but if Declan had won it, it would be well deserved too because I don’t think there’s a ‘best player’ in the league, it’s just in a season where you have to choose between players and numbers have a lot of weight in the decisions, I think I had a brilliant season and I had that in my game.
‘Obviously for Dec it’s more difficult for him to get that because he plays a little bit deeper. I still think he’s an amazing player and if he had got this award I would have messaged him and said congratulations as I did when he got into the final of the Champions League.’
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