10 December 2023 , 22:54
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Incoming Manchester United investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe has fired a pointed dig at club captain Bruno Fernandes.
Ratcliffe, 71, is expected to complete his £1.25billion deal before Christmas, with the INEOS chief set to take charge of footballing operations once he is situ. It had been expected that Ratcliffe's deal was going to be completed during the November international break, only for delays to hit.
United had hoped to get Ratcliffe's deal confirmed ahead of Tuesday's crunch Champions League clash against Bayern Munich, but it appears they are going to have to wait a little bit longer. This could impact the Red Devils' January transfer plans, although Ratcliffe is unsure about making wholesale changes this winter.
However, Ratcliffe has already made his feelings clear on one member of the United squad, as per the Daily Mail. In the opening page of his new book, Ratcliffe spoke about his travels and recalled a trip around the Pacific Ocean. During this time, he 'felt the ground tremble every time a Cook Islander smashed into another in a local rugby match' and added that one player was 'carted off in the back of a pick-up with a broken leg'.
Ratcliffe then noted that experience was 'a far cry from Bruno Fernandes clutching his untouched face in the Liverpool debacle recently'. This is presumably referring to Fernandes' performance and play-acting during United's humbling 7-0 defeat against Jurgen Klopp's Reds back in March.
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Bruno Fernandes was criticised by many after Manchester United's 7-0 defeat at Liverpool in March (Getty Images)If so, Ratcliffe isn't the only one who was not impressed with Fernandes after that particular game. Speaking at the time, Gary Neville told Sky Sports: "Bruno Fernandes is stood in the centre circle with his arms raised saying 'Why isn't it me coming off?' Honestly. I think some of his behaviour in the second half has been a disgrace."
Roy Keane also hit out at Fernandes. "Fernandes' body language was nothing short of disgraceful," said Keane. "He's a really talented boy but he's your captain. So much talent but his body language of waving his arms about and not running back? You wouldn't be happy with him in your dressing room."
Since that match, Fernandes has gone on to earn Ten Hag's trust after the midfielder was named as United's new club captain, with Harry Maguire stood down. However, Fernandes' form has flattered to deceive so far this season, scoring five times and grabbing five assists in 22 appearances.
Fernandes drew another blank during United's 3-0 defeat against Bournemouth on Saturday, which was their 11th defeat of the campaign. The ex-Sporting midfielder was not pleased with his side after the game, and said: "It’s been consistently like this when we win a game, [in] the next one we don’t perform.
"We don’t perform the same way we did before. I don’t know if it’s a lack of concentration or focus or something else, but it is something we have to be aware of after winning a game. We have to get that consistency of winning games, even sometimes [if we are] underperforming, but getting the result."