Bruno Fernandes opens up on why he turned down 'very ambitious' move to Al Hilal during press conference

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has given a detailed insight into why he turned down a move to Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal.

Fernandes has spent the last few days giving serious consideration to an offer from Al Hilal, who were ready to give the 30-year-old midfielder a wage package of around £700,000-a-week over three years.

Al Hilal were also willing to part with a fee of around £100 million, and the Saudi club were confident of having an offer accepted given Manchester United's financial difficulties, according to ESPN.

Fernandes' agent, Miguel Pinho, travelled to the Middle East for negotiations last week but on Tuesday, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano confirmed that Fernandes has turned down the chance to join Al Hilal.

"Despite crazy contract proposal from the Saudi Pro League club, Bruno Fernandes wants to continue playing football in Europe," Romano said. "Man United captain wants to play at top level in Europe. Decision made."

On Tuesday afternoon, Fernandes spoke to the media ahead of Portugal's upcoming Nations League semi-final clash against Germany.

Here, he spoke about the big-money offer from Saudi Arabia, as well as the conversation he had with United head coach Ruben Amorim regarding his future.

“Al Hilal were very kind," he said. "They spoke to my agent. Then I spoke to my wife. She asked: 'What do you want to do?’ She always supports my decisions."

"It would have been easy to move there," Fernandes added. "I know the Portuguese players there very well. But I want to play at the highest level and compete for major titles. I can do that, and I still want to. I’m very passionate about football.”

As well as confirming talks with Al Hilal's president, Fahad bin Nafel, the midfielder also detailed the conversation he had with Amorim, who recently stressed the importance of keeping Fernandes as United look to rebuild this summer.

“There was an opportunity," he added. "The president called me and asked if I wanted to go there. They were waiting for me.

"I spoke to coach Amorim. He asked me not to go. Manchester United didn’t want to sell me. They don’t need the money. If I had wanted to leave, they would have made it happen.“

Fernandes opened up on the offer from Al Hilal in his latest press conference.

As well as touching on details surrounding the offer from Saudi, the midfielder spoke about United's season in general after they finished 15th in the Premier League.

“Our season was very tough," he said. "We weren’t able to achieve our goals. That’s a negative. I love being here with the national team now. I’m always happy here. I hope we can reach the final.”

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