Bruno Fernandes has hit back at Roy Keane after the former Manchester United captain criticised him for chasing individual records over team performance, accusing the pundit of lying about things he had said in an interview.
Fernandes equalled the record for the most Premier League assists in a season when setting up Bruno Mbeumo's goal in a 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest last week. He then moved clear of former record holders Thierry Henry and Kevin de Bruyne with another assist against Brighton on the final day of the Premier League season. The current Manchester United captain ended the season with a new record of 21 assists and won the Premier League Player of the Season and FWA Footballer of the Year awards.
However, Keane, speaking on The Overlap Podcast, was not happy with the way Fernandes' apparent pursuit of individual honours was prioritised over the needs of the team. "You're going to get assists in that position he plays," Keane said after the win over Forest. "When you're the captain of a club and are supposed to be driving the club forward, do not be getting bogged down by just your role in the team, just assists."
Keane added: "What I heard from United at the weekend I was raging about it. The whole chat about his assists. After the game he got interviewed and he said in his interview, the captain of Man Utd, he said: 'Yeah a few times I probably should have shot but I made them passes'... wow. How can your mindset of a footballer be going to a match talking about individual records?"
However, Keane had misquoted the Portuguese midfielder in that interview. Fernandes actually said he had taken shots during the game when the better option would have been to pass to a teammate.
Fernandes then appeared on The Diary of a CEO podcast with Steven Bartlett and was asked about Keane questioning his mentality. "I have always said I don't mind criticism, I always take criticism from everyone and anyone and I never replied to anything whatsoever," Fernandes explained before addressing Keane's specific critiques.
He added: "People have an opinion, they think it's good, bad, whatever. What I don't like was when people lie about things and this case what you said about Roy Keane, basically what he said is a lie. Luckily for me, everything is on record. Imagine if it wasn't, then people will think Bruno is the guy always trying to go the assist. I even asked Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] for his number to text him and have a word with him to say I don't mind the criticism, I don't like when people lie about things that I say. This goes a little bit over the top of the things I think are acceptable."
