runo Fernandes has revealed he was furious to have a potential move to Tottenham in 2019 blocked by his club at the time.
Spurs were interested in the Portuguese star three years ago, when Mauricio Pochettino was in charge, but Sporting Lisbon turned down their approaches.
Fernandes got his move to the Premier League a few months later, joining Manchester United in the January transfer window, but the midfielder admitted he was incredibly frustrated when he was preventing from moving to Tottenham.
“Obviously I wanted to go to the Premier League,” Fernandes told The Athletic.
“The manager, Mauricio Pochettino, was the one who wanted me there. It was a good offer but Sporting tried their best to keep me.
“The president [Frederico Varandas] spoke with me but he spoke with me on the wrong day. It was the day after they decided to refuse the offer from Tottenham and I was really angry. Luckily for me, the manager [Marcel Keizer] was the right one at the right time.”
United sit fifth in the table, having played a game less than Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham, after putting their terrible start to the season behind them with a run of four straight wins in the league.
Erik ten Hag took over a side low in confidence after Ralf Rangnick was unable to turn the club’s fortunes around as interim manager. Fernandes puts that down to the poor mood at the club.
“Ralf came with his idea of playing with intensity and pressing and how he was used to playing in Germany,” Fernandes said.
“But it did not quite work out with us because there was an atmosphere between everyone where the confidence was low and everything was really down.
“It is really difficult to come off when you are in that run. It is nothing to do with Ralf, he tried his best. He is a good manager with good ideas but it did not fit with everyone.”
