Bruno loves Manchester: The best quotes
Bruno Fernandes wanted to sit down with us recently and speak in greater depth about his relationship with the city of Manchester.
The Portuguese international signed for United in January 2020 and became an instant hit with fans as his buccaneering, creative style of play supercharged Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, helping us go on a long unbeaten run to rise to third at the end of that season.
A large chunk of Bruno’s time in England has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and he acknowledges that it’s only in the last year or so that he’s really been able to explore and expand his knowledge of the great city United call home.
Fortunately, there's no doubt Fernandes loves what he sees – he signed a new, long-term contract with the Reds in April, keeping him here for what should be his peak years as a professional. Our no.8’s family has also expanded during his stay here, with wife Ana giving birth to son Goncalo in September 2020.
Having moved from the city to the leafy suburbs, Bruno has been loving getting out and experiencing the countryside with his kids and he tells us he wants Manchester to become his home for years to come in an extended 20-minute interview, which you can watch in full below.
We’ve also picked out some of the best quotes from the conversation…
Bruno special | What Manchester means to me
Classic interview | Bruno Fernandes explores his relationship with Manchester & what our beloved city means to him...
REMINDERS OF HOME
“The way you see people connecting with each other, it’s really lovely to see them spend time in that way. I was used to it when I was in Portugal with my father and going to the coffee shops where they play cards, they play chess, they play pool, they play darts also. I know it was something a bit familiar and it’s something I like to do also with my family.”
PEOPLE ARE POLITE
“When you find fans it’s always a good thing because they have so many questions for you, because they don’t live the inside of the training ground. [They ask] how was the session? How is this player? How is that player? How is the mood, you know? They always want to get involved with that and it’s something good. Obviously you can’t just say everything that goes through here but you can give something that makes them happy to have something back, you know? Obviously, I’ve been here three years now and unluckily for me two of those years almost were Covid and everything was closed but you get to connect with people, as I said. People are always pleased to see us but at the same time they are always nice to us.”
LOTS OF FOOD CHOICE
“I think the mixed culture you have in Manchester is really good, even in a restaurant way, because you can have whatever you want at different places. That’s something good because at a club you always have people that like Asian, English, Spanish, Portuguese food. We don’t have a Portuguese restaurant so I’ll have to chat with my two Portuguese colleagues to see if we open a restaurant… whenever Portuguese people come to the country they can go there and obviously the English people can have that fish that they have in the Algarve, that fresh fish, they can have it here.”
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FAMILY TIME IS VITAL
“It’s something for us as the players, because you have to be in like a cage until the game, and when you get your space and your time to go off, you want to go somewhere where you can relax and be walking with your kids where they can enjoy the time they have. I think that’s the thing for me. I’m really a home person so when I get off I want to go somewhere where my kids can be enjoying and run and do whatever they want and come home dirty.”
HIS DAUGHTER’S ‘MANC’ ACCENT!
“The most difficult thing for me is studying and doing the homework with my daughter because she has the accent and it’s really difficult for me. You want to tell the words to her but basically it’s her correcting me more than me correcting her! It’s been a problem, it’s been a mess, I’m not that calm when I’m doing that so most of the times we have an argument, because she says it in the right way [laughs]. I speak the English of the streets, you can call it that: the English you learn in Portugal. Now I start to get some words and get some stuff and obviously my English gets better but because she started to speak English here, her English is a proper Mancunian accent.”
Read the full interview with Bruno in the Tottenham Hotspur edition of United Review, available to buy at Old Trafford tonight or online here.