Bruno Fernandes rejects second United contract offer as January deadline nears
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has turned down a second, improved contract offer, with his current deal ending this season. Unless United act, he could open talks with clubs abroad from January.
Manchester United’s captain has turned down a second, improved contract offer, Sky Sports reported. Bruno Fernandes also rejected the club’s first proposal in the summer, when talks began. His current deal ends when this season finishes.
That timing is the problem. From January, Fernandes would be free to talk to clubs outside England about a free transfer. United can close that route. The club holds an option to extend his contract by a year. Triggering it would stop him speaking to other clubs.
The door is not shut. The two sides are expected to keep negotiating. United have made clear they want their captain to stay at Old Trafford. Nothing official has come from the club on the talks.
A season of awards raises the cost of losing him
The deal he is now on was a three-year contract, signed in 2024. His output since then would make him hard to replace.
He made his 21st assist of 2025/26 in United’s last game, away at Brighton. That set a new Premier League record for assists in a season. It came one day after he was named EA SPORTS Player of the Season. His fellow professionals then voted him the PFA Men’s Players’ Player of the Year for 2026.
He has turned down big money before. In June 2025, Fernandes revealed he had rejected Al Hilal. The club had been ready to hand United £100m for him. Under their offer, the £250,000 he earns each week would have risen to nearly three times that sum. Those figures give a sense of the interest he can attract outside England.
Pochettino inherits the contract call in the bottom three
The decision lands during a change of coach. Michael Carrick is no longer men’s first-team head coach. United sit in the bottom three of the Premier League.
That leaves the new coach and the club’s executives with a short window. Losing the captain for nothing would be a blow to a squad already struggling for results. A third, improved offer is still open to the club.
Mauricio Pochettino has agreed to take over on a deal running to summer 2029, according to Sky Sports. An announcement is expected on Friday. He will start the job after the current international break.
