Bruno Fernandes: Benfica Transfer Talk & Rui Costa Conversation

Bruno Fernandes gave an interview to Canal 11 in Manchester – the second part of Soltinhos Pelo Mundo came out this Tuesday – and spoke about the possibility he had in 2018 of signing for Benfica, after having ended his contract with Sporting following the attack on Alcochete. The Portuguese midfielder explained the reasons for refusing the proposal and even revealed a conversation he had with Rui Costa, now president of the Eagles.

«There was that possibility, Benfica wanted it, but from the first moment I said I wouldn’t do it. 2018. I’m doing 2017/18, there’s this summer, there’s the World Cup. I’m at the World Cup and after the World Cup happens there is this possibility. It existed, my manager came to me with this possibility, but I always said no. If I stayed in Portugal, I said that to my agent, if I stayed in Portugal… I would stay at Sporting”, he began by saying, ensuring that the contract values were very tempting, even compared to the Premier League.

«Financially it was very tempting. I believe that, even to this day, there were few players who had the offer I had, on a financial level, it was a much better contract than the first one I had here at Manchester United. Benfica paid me more and I immediately said no. Benfica happened in that situation, from what I was told, Benfica also wanted me, a year before Jorge Jesus wanted me, and he didn’t want me at Benfica to go get someone else and then JJ says that he’s the one who wants me at Sporting. Bruno Carvalho says it was him and André Geraldes says it was him. There’s a war going on between the three of them, and no one knew they really wanted me,” he said, also joking about the controversial situation in Alvalade, and stating that Benfica’s proposal was about revenge for their rival.

«There was this possibility of Benfica, I also, out of respect for Benfica, didn’t feel right going to Benfica simply for the monetary factor, because Benfica, in addition to being a big club, a very big institution, I appreciated what they were trying to do, but I also understood at the same time that this had happened many years ago. Sporting had stolen a player from Benfica and this was a bit of a pay-back and I don’t want to be part of these plots, that’s not for me. I was honest with my manager, if Benfica wanted me, they would buy me last year. That’s what I told them. They put it on the table when Sporting wanted me, they put their role on the table and then I had to decide between Benfica and Sporting. Benfica didn’t do that the previous year, why now, just because Bruno has this moment of weakness for Sporting, we’re going to take advantage of this to pull our side”, he said, remembering an encore for the National Team and the conversation with Rui Costa at Luz.

«And President Rui Costa, once, I caught him there when I scored two goals against Bosnia at the Estádio da Luz, he passed by, greeted me and said: ‘you always score goals in this stadium’. And I said: ‘you guys didn’t want it’. And he replied: ‘ah, we wanted to’, to which I replied: ‘yes, but by then it was too late’. They had to want it before,” he added, smiling.

On the other hand, Bruno Fernandes also revealed that he was very close to moving to FC Porto, who preferred Óliver Torres, a year before arriving at Sporting. «I have enormous respect for all the big clubs in Portugal and I was very close to playing for FC Porto the previous year, going to Sporting, then FC Porto ended up signing Óliver Torres at the time. He did very well at FC Porto, now I had a stronger impact than he had in the Portuguese championship and that is undeniable, but Óliver did very well, but obviously he didn’t have the impact of goals and assists. He was another player who made the team play and gave dynamics to the team», he said.