Bruno Fernandes Reveals Disappointment After “Standout” Player Chose To Sign For One Of Man Utd’s Rivals

BACK David Tully May 17th 2026 Man Utd captain Bruno Fernandes has revealed that he was “really sad” when Declan Rice joined Arsenal The Portuguese international says he is a big fan of the England international, who he has described as one of the Premier League’s “standout players” this campaign, and he was hoping that the Red Devils would enter the race for his signature back in the summer 2023: “To be honest, I admire him [Rice] a lot, first of all as a person because I knew him from the Algarve when we were training together and everything. Obviously, I knew him already from West Ham, and we all knew the qualities he had, and I’ve always thought that Rice was a player to play Man United.” “I was really sad when he chose to go to Arsenal. I didn’t know if it was the opportunity or the chance for him to come to Manchester United, but I always thought he would be a perfect fit for our club, not just for the player he is, but for the person he is and professional he showed me and his personality.” “I think what he has been doing this season is great, it’s a different position, it’s a different style of play. He’s a player that doesn’t need to get, in his position, assists as much, he doesn’t need to score as much because it demands different things, and the way Arsenal plays is different from the way we play, so we can’t compare the players. But what we can say is he has been one of the standout players from the Premier League this season.” Man United were never in contention to sign Rice Despite some former players calling on the club to make a move for the midfielder at the time, the long and short of it is the Red Devils weren’t in a position to buy him. Even if we forget the fact that United had splashed out £70m on Casemiro just a year before, Rice had seemingly made up his mind that he was joining Arsenal at a very early stage. Champions Manchester City did make a bid for the West Ham captain, but they withdrew their proposal once it became known that he wanted to join the Gunners. The club will try to sign the ‘next Rice’ this summer If rumours are to be believed, United have prioritised a move for Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson. The 23-year-old could cost a similar amount to Rice (whose transfer fee to Arsenal totalled £105m), and they will also have to fend off competition from City for his services. It is likely to be the biggest deal of the 2026 summer transfer window. Want more news on Man Utd? Add Man U News as a preferred source on Google David Tully David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for the Football News Network.