Bruno Fernandes Rejected a Contract Extension: Is United's Future Pinned on Him and Should United Fans Be Worried?

The Portuguese midfielder Bruno Fernandes didn’t take too long to enchant Red Devils fans at Old Trafford. Fernandes arrived in June 2020, coming from one of the strongest Portuguese teams, the Sporting. Indeed, he was a crucial part of the team that entire season, putting the team among the Top 4 in the EPL.

Despite such impressive performance, talks about a new contract seem to be going nowhere. Why?

Making the Reds Blush

In his first season on the red side of Manchester, Fernandes made history. He started by shattering Frank Lampard’s record as the midfielder with most goals in a competition: 28, only in 2020. Truth be told, Fernandes isn’t playing as brilliantly this season, but he still has 16 goals under his belt, more than most strikers in the league. If a fan was to visit 10Bet DRC to check Manchester United’s odd at finishing top-four for this 2021/2022, they will know that Bruno Fernandes plays a key chance in any of their success..

Bruno Fernandes has signed with Manchester United until 2025. He’s doing such a terrific job for the team that the club started talking about extending his contract. Then, the honeymoon was over. The talks have exposed a fracture in the team.

It turns out there’s a massive salary gap in the team. Salary gaps aren’t unusual, but since Fernandes is undoubtedly one of the best players in the team, he wants to be paid as such. Currently, the players’ salary is nowhere near those of Cristiano Ronaldo and David de Gea.

That’s when talks stalled.

The Gap

Fernandes was transferred from Sporting Lisbon for £46.6m, with a weekly salary of £100,000. The enormous sum still shies away in comparison with Ronaldo’s (£400,000) and de Gea’s (£375,000). Edinson Cavani, Paul Pogba, and Anthony Martial also earn more than the Portuguese midfielder. Fernandes is demanding a pay rise for the extension of his contract and has rejected the club’s first offer.

Accomplishments

The midfielder’s accomplishments with the red shirt are nothing short of spectacular. He was appointed as the best player in the team in 2020. With an impressive number of goals and over a dozen assists, he became one of the most influential players in the team. He is said to have strong leadership qualities and an ability to improve the morale and the performance of those around him.

He isn’t the captain but is definitely a central figure in the field, always encouraging and directing the team. The club’s average points per game jumped from 1.14 before his arrival, to 2.14, in 2020. There’s no way to deny the player became a decisive factor in every game, and rare are the matches where he isn’t relevant. Bruno has left his home club with awesome stats: he scored 63 goals and provided 52 assists for the Lisbon team.

This season hasn’t been his, or the club’s best – when going to check out 10bet Zambia and see who is favourite for finishing top of the assist-chart in the Premier League this year, they will see Bruno Fernandes way off the top, which is not where he is expected to be.

No Panic

Surely, Fernandes and Manchester United’s managers had better moments. However, there’s no reason to fear for the Portuguese scorer to leave anytime soon. His contract goes until 2025, and although talks have stalled, they weren’t abandoned. Sources close to the player believe he’ll sign the contract and that talks should be resumed by the end of the season.

There are also expectations about a change in management, as Ralf Rangnick will step down from his interim management before the next season. Such change could be favourable for Fernandes, who seems to agree to leave the talks aside for now.

According to the platform The Athletic, negotiations won’t resume before May. Besides, he isn’t negotiating with any other team at the moment. So, the chances of him leaving the team before 2025 are highly improbable.

“Just a Question of Time”

The player has made clear already that he doesn’t want to leave the team, and fans surely don’t want it either. Fernandes believes it’s “just a question of time” until a new agreement is reached despite rejecting the previous offer. The player still has many numbers playing in his favour. In 106 games with the red shirt, he scored 47 goals and provided 36 assists.

Conclusion

Despite some awkwardness due to the failed negotiations, the relationship between Bruno Fernandes and the club doesn’t seem shaken. The negotiations have been postponed, waiting for better times, perhaps when Ralf Rangnick leaves the office. Meanwhile, everything stays as it is since the midfielder’s contract runs until 2025, and none of the parties seems interested in breaking it.