Roy Keane has broken his silence on a phone call he had with Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes, after the pair found themselves embroiled in a public dispute following comments made by the former United skipper.
Keane took umbrage with the attitude of United's players after Fernandes broke the record for the most assists in a single Premier League season on the final day of the campaign against Brighton last month.
The Portuguese midfielder enjoyed a remarkable personal season at Old Trafford, racking up 21 assists in the Premier League and playing a key role in helping the Reds finish third in the top flight to seal Champions League qualification.
However, Fernandes was far from happy with Keane's remarks, in which the United legend implied that excessive attention was being paid to the assist record.
Fernandes Responds to Criticism
"I don't mind criticism," Fernandes said last month, speaking to Steven Bartlett. "I always take criticism from everyone and never reply to anyone whatsoever. People have an opinion, they think it's good, bad or whatever."
"What I don't like is when people lie about things, and in 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 always the guy going for the assist."
Fernandes added: "I even asked Ole his number to text him to have a word with him, to say 'I don't mind the criticism, I don't like when people lie about the things that I say, because this goes over the top of the things I think are acceptable.'"
Keane's Revelation
Several weeks later, Keane has revealed that he and the United skipper have since spoken by telephone.
"I think there was a reaction to what we said on the podcast a few weeks ago and he reached out to me and wanted a chat," Keane said on the latest episode of The Overlap podcast from Stick to Football.
"I did, I called him and we had a lovely chat about a bit of everything really. It was nice, when we do podcasts or games and sometimes you think you say something afterward and you are trying to communicate something and it doesn't come across properly and people get upset."
"He wanted to speak to me and we had a nice, mature conversation."
Following Keane's most recent remarks, it would appear that he and Fernandes have now buried the hatchet, with the United captain poised to shift his focus towards representing Portugal at this summer's World Cup.
