Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes says he is using former skipper Roy Keane’s scathing recent criticism as fuel and hit back at co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe for his comments about “overpaid” players.
The 30-year-old is the most successful signing of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era and has been a rare shining light during what has largely been a campaign to forget so far.
United skipper Fernandes continued his fine form with a hat-trick in Thursday’s 4-1 comeback win against Real Sociedad, sealing a 5-2 aggregate triumph and setting up a Europa League quarter-final clash against Lyon.
It means he could yet be lifting a trophy at the end of a disappointing season that has seen former captain Keane recently rage that the Portuguese was “not a fighter” and that “talent is not enough”.
Asked if such criticism was unfair from United players of a different era, Fernandes said: “No, everyone has an opinion and that’s fine.
“I can’t change the mind of people. Like everything I have to do is go on the pitch and try to do the best I can for the club.
“Roy Keane was an amazing captain for the club, one of the best as everyone says. I didn’t have the chance to see much from him, only the last few years, but was a great player that won everything for the club.
“He’s massively respected from everyone and has all my respect. He has to give his opinion in a programme and this is what he thinks about me.
“What I’m doing on the pitch to try to change his mind or trying to do something that he probably sees as a good thing. Obviously, I do it in my own way, I don’t want to copy anyone.
“I try to be the best captain that I can for my team-mates, I try to help everyone in the best way I can and the best way I know.
“I have a lot of things to improve, not only as a captain but as a player, as a person, as a human being – and that’s fine.
“Criticism is going to be always part (of the game) and it’s going to make me grow and understand that there’s still a long way to go.”
Scrutiny comes internally as well as externally at United, with Ratcliffe raising eyebrows by publicly saying on Monday that some players were “not good enough” and probably “overpaid”.
The co-owner namechecked Casemiro, Rasmus Hojlund and Andre Onana, as well as the loaned-out pair of Jadon Sancho and Antony, in remarks about “inherited” players that the club were still paying for.
“We need to prove ourselves every day in training, every day that we have a game,” Fernandes said. “We can’t relax at this club.
“You know that there’s a big standard, a big attention that you get from the media, from everywhere.
“You need to realise that sometimes you need to put your focus on your game, trying to improve yourself.
“It’s not nice to hear certain things, obviously. I don’t think that any player likes to hear criticism or things that are talked about to you, that you’re not good enough or you’re overpaid or whatever.
“Everyone has their own contract. The club agrees to do the contracts at the time you come here or at the time you do a new contract or whatever and it’s about yourself, proving that you can be important for the club.”
