Bruno Fernandes has responded to Manchester United legend Roy Keane misinterpreting his comments, while chasing the record for most assists in a Premier League season.
The Portugal midfielder set a new record after grabbing his 21st assist on the final day of the 2025/26 Premier League campaign. He surpassed Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne, who were both joint-top for the record with 20 assists.
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Fernandes equalled the record during Manchester United’s final home game of the season against Nottingham Forest on May 17. After that 3-2 win, Keane accused Fernandes of saying he focused on grabbing an assist rather than scoring in the bid for the individual record.
Clearly, the comments made by the midfielder was misinterpreted and during a chat with Steven Bartlett’s ‘The Diary of a CEO’ podcast’, Fernandes has issued a response.
The 31-year-old started off by making it clear that he’s always open to receiving criticism from anyone. However, he insisted that spreading a lie about him isn’t acceptable.
Fernandes pointed to how Keane stated something he never said and said he’s glad that it was on record. Otherwise, he believes people could have had the wrong impression about him as a player.
The Manchester United skipper commented:
“To be honest, I’ve always said I don’t mind criticism. I always take criticism from anyone and everyone and I never replied to anything whatsoever. People have an opinion, they think it’s good, bad or whatever.
“What I don’t like was when people lie about things and in this case that you said about Roy Keane, basically what he said is a lie. And luckily for me, everything is on record. Imagine if it wasn’t? Then people will think like, ‘Bruno is the guy who always trying to get the assist [record].”
Fernandes went on to reveal that he asked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for Keane’s number to drop a message. He reiterated on how the Manchester United legend went ‘over the top’ with his claim:
“I even asked Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] his number to text him [Keane]. To have a word with him and to say that I don’t mind the criticism [but] I don’t like when people lie about things that I say. This goes a little bit over the top of the things that I think are acceptable.”
Fernandes, who joined Manchester United from Sporting CP in 2020, has scored 107 goals and registered 108 assists in 327 appearances for the club.
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes receives trophy from Premier League after breaking assist record
Bruno Fernandes’ corner-kick paved the way for Patrick Dorgu’s opening goal against Brighton on the final day of the season. Goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Fernandes himself sealed a 3-0 win for Manchester United, who finished third with 71 points.
For his remarkable achievement of 21 assists in a season, Fernandes has been honored with a special trophy by Premier League. In a video released on Monday, the midfielder can be seen posing with the trophy.
Reacting to the honor, Fernandes stated:
“Ahhh, this is a nice trophy”
Fernandes also won the FWA Player of the Year award and was named Premier League’s player of the season.
Edited by Nived Zenith