Bruno Fernandes on Rui Costa chat: Benfica wanted me | OneFootball

Bruno Fernandes made everything clear. The former Sporting midfielder was about to sign with Benfica in 2018, following his contract termination with the Lions after the attack at the Alcochete Academy. In the second part of his interview with Canal 11, the Portuguese international revealed that the Eagles had been trying to sign him since the 2014/15 season, when they were managed by Jorge Jesus.

"They told me that JJ already wanted me at Benfica a year earlier, but he went for someone else. JJ later says that he was the one who wanted me at Sporting, Bruno de Carvalho says it was him, and André Geraldes says it was him [laughs], there’s a war between the three of them," he began by saying.

Out of respect for Benfica, I also didn’t feel right going just for the financial aspect. Benfica is a great club," Bruno Fernandes added, before explaining his response to the Reds during the program 'Soltinhos pelo Mundo'.

"I appreciated what they were doing, but I also understood that something like this had happened many years ago. Sporting had stolen a player from Benfica and this was a bit of payback, so to speak. I was honest with the agent and said: if Benfica wanted me, they should have bought me last year," Bruno Fernandes added.

Next, the current Manchester United player recalled a conversation he had with Rui Costa in 2023, after a victory by the National Team in the Euro 2024 qualifiers, in which Benfica’s interest came up again: "I ran into president Rui Costa after I scored two goals against Bosnia, at Estádio da Luz. He walked by and greeted me. He said: ‘you always score goals in this stadium.’ I replied: ‘you’re the ones who didn’t want me.’ He said: ‘ah, but we did want you.’ And I said: ‘yes, but by then it was already too late.’"

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.