Bruno Fernandes' wife convinced him to snub Saudi Pro League millions

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Martin Macdonald | Writer

Content writer covering football, formula 1 and movies

Bruno Fernandes has detailed the advice from his wife Ana that led to him snubbing the hundreds of millions on offer from the Saudi Pro League to remain at Manchester United.

United have largely been in a slump over the last few years, but Fernandes has remained a consistently impressive performer for the Red Devils and is now the club captain.

This season, he has been excellent as United strive to qualify for the Champions League, with eight goals and a league-high 18 assists to his name. Remarkably, the player second on the list for more assists in the Premier League this campaign is Rayan Cherki - and he only has 10.

Man Utd's fortunes this season would have been very different if Fernandes wasn't around, and a departure nearly happened in the summer as the riches of the Saudi Pro League tempted him with a move to the Middle East.

The Daily Mail reported at the time that he was offered a £200 million (€231m) three-year deal by Al-Hilal. That worked out at around £700,000 per week, tax free.

The man himself even suggested he could move, saying it was up to Man Utd:

“If the club thinks it's time to part ways because they want to do some cashing in, it is what it is.”

In the end, Fernandes stayed at Old Trafford, and it seems Man Utd fans have his wife to thank.

"I stayed because I thought I still had something that I can give back to the club," he said on The Wayne Rooney Show for the BBC.

"Obviously the Saudi situation, with the money... there was a lot. The good thing I have in my family is that my wife is pretty down to earth like me. We're very aware that we don't want to be the richest person in the world. We just want to be the ones that have achieved the dreams they had and live a good life with their kids and trying to be as successful as possible."

There was one question that his wife, Ana Pinho, posed, that made the decision easy in the end.

"The words of my wife were like, 'have you achieved your dreams? Have you achieved everything you wanted?'" the Portugal star added.

"And that small thing she said made me understand that she's on the same page as me. Let's keep trying and see where this takes me."

After Ruben Amorin was sacked in January, United have steadily crept up the table under Michael Carrick and are currently third in the league behind Manchester City and Arsenal.

They face Brentford at Old Trafford on Monday night as Carrick and his squad to consolidate that top-four place heading into the final games of the season.

There are six games remaining in the campaign and they'll play Brentford (h), Liverpool (h), Sunderland (a), Nottingham Forest (h), and then Brighton away on the final day.

That clash against Liverpool will be crucial in determining the top four as the Reds are four points behind United in fifth, currently.

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