Bruno Fernandes: Roy Keane Twisted My Words. They Offered Me £200M, I Said No.

37:15So what I won't give to the managers is the choice or the option in their head to think I'm not going to play Bruno. What do you do when you're not happy about something though? As the captain, do you go have a chat with them? No, I do whatever they want me to do. If they think it's the best thing for the team, I'm going to do it. Either I agree or not, believe it more or not. I make myself available for what they want to do, 100%. If then it works or not, that's on them to decide that if it needs to be changed or not. I'm not going to go to the manager and ask them to change formation, the way they play.

37:53If they ask me, I give my opinion. If they don't ask me, I don't say anything. What have you learned about what a good manager does and how to be a good manager from the six managers you've had? For me, look, through my career, I've always heard that, you know, like certain players should be treated in a different way than other players. I don't believe in that. It's like the same as having a business. You buy certain people to do certain things because you believe they're the right person to do that. So I don't think that you then should change the way you behave with them. you should probably approach them in different ways.

38:34I believe in that because I'm not the same as you. So do you treat players differently on the pitch? Because you shout at lots of your teammates. Are there some that you won't shout at as much? I treat all of them the same. And I think they're kind of getting to know exactly why I do it. Everything that we train in the legend, let's see. During the week we train this. And we have seen images of this. We know what you have to do. The manager has prepared for it. As for that, I demand that, at least. I don't care who you are. We've been a full week preparing the training, the game for this. This, we need to know how to do it.

39:10Then if you can make a pass or you can make a goal or you can make a tackle, that's different. That's the qualities I need from each one individually. But I've learned to talk with them in different ways, but with the same end result. not like I won't like go to one and say like being scared of saying things to him and the other one like because he's younger whatsoever I'm gonna like shout at him whatsoever no if I have to shout at this one I will shout this one if I have to shout at this one I'll shout this one if I have to praise this one I'll praise this one the same way I praise this one and I think that you can see in my interviews I'm not afraid of saying what I feel at the same time I'm not afraid of praising players for what they've done or what they're doing, even if they probably in the moment they haven't done as much as they needed to get the praise.

40:01But for me, I think he needs that praise to get into the next level. So I'm going to give him something, but I make him aware. I've given you something, but I'm expecting something more from you. It's like my dad giving me like, you need to be better, you need to do more because he knows I'm capable of more. And this is why I demand from the players. I demand, I'm very strong on them because I really believe in them. I have said this so many times to so many different players. It's like, trust me, the day I stop talking to you, the day I stop shouting at you, is because I don't believe in you anymore.

40:36And I don't believe you can improve anymore. Your time at Manchester United has been a bit of a rollercoaster like this. Kind of like up and down and up and down. You went second and then you dropped down the league, you're second. And I mean, the last two years have been a prime example of that. Finishing near the bottom end of the table. and then this year back up to a third. I'm wondering, as a fan, when things get bad and you hear all these sort of rumors breaking online that the manager's going to be sacked, does that impact the dressing room? Like, do you guys in the dressing room, because you've been through it so many times where a manager has been removed, what's that like when you know things are going bad?

41:12No, first of all, you feel it for the manager. Really? It's the first thing, because I think, obviously, certain players will feel it more than others. because it's their players that play more than others. And they obviously, the ones that probably don't play, they don't like to see managers going. But at the same time, if a new manager comes in, it's a new opportunity for them to probably get into the team more times than we're getting before. And I think going through the process of changing manner is probably the worst thing in sports because it's starting from zero again. And either people believe it or not, when you're through a process, you want to get to the end of the process and understanding what that has gave to you as a player and what you can do more with that staff, with that team and with that manager to go even further more.

41:57Why didn't you lose hope? Because you went through that process of starting from zero, making progress, manager goes, back to zero, making progress, manager goes, back to zero. You know why? Because every time, I've spoke this with Diogo before, every time we come for pre-season, it's like a new start. and you always get that belief of like, this is going to be the time. This is going to be the time. It's moments through the season that you get this belief that things are not going well. But the main thing I have is belief in myself. So I always think if I do things right and I take people to do things right and I help them to do things right as a team, we still have a chance of pushing ourselves into positions we want to be.

42:43And let's say this season has been that case because we struggled. Obviously, we didn't change manager because of results because we were two points behind second place and like five points behind first place. We were same points till I think from third to seventh place was everyone with the same points, something like that. So we were there. It was something different with the club that they felt that the trust between them was broke or whatsoever and they kind of decided to start a new process. And that was bad because for us, when Ruben came, what was passed from the club is like, this is going to be a process, but we're going to go through this.

43:26It's going to be good and bad times, but we're going to go through this. Obviously, then the club decided that it was time to part ways and you started from zero with Michael. But then you've got results and you went to the end of the season and you finish third. And you finish what doing probably in the time Michael was here till the end of the season, till now, is probably the team that has made more points. What did Michael change? I think in the first moment, what Michael tried to do was to give stability to the team because as everyone understands, when you come in after a break, you understand that you need to give stability and peace of mind to the players to get back to the level...

44:11he thought we could have. And he brought the foundation and the base that has been in this club from the time he played till the time he managed. And then he left. So he knows the club. He knows how the club wants to play. And he knows what the fans want to see. How is he different? Like what's what tactically or from a character perspective, what does Michael bring as a manager? I know as, you know, just an hour ago or so, it was announced that he's going to be the Manchester United manager going forward. which is great news but what is if you had to describe him to me as a leader and a manager how is he different?

44:48I think he's a very he gives you a lot of calmness you know in terms of why he wants from the team the way he demands the way he coaches he gives you he gives you a good way of going to the game with a good peace of mind but with a lot of responsibility because I think from the time he was here with Sir Alex he gave a lot of responsibility to the players to make decisions and to make choices on the pitch that have to be on you. He gives you the base, he gives you the foundation, he gives you certain rules that is like the non-negotiable ones. But then he also knows and he wants us to take some responsibility through the game that things might change.

45:27Because you prepare a game full week, obviously, but then the team could come and do a different thing. Like you prepare to play against a 4-3-3 because they always play 4-3-3 and then they come and they play 3-5-2. And then you go like, oh, and now The manager can't be on the sideline telling you where to press, where to go. So as players, have the foundation, have the base, have the rules, non-negotiables. And from there on, we need to find a way of like, okay, let's imagine we can't press because they've changed everything and the press we prepared was not the one we needed. Let's get compact.

45:59Let's get together. They don't get into our block. When we have the ball, we play with the ball. We get into the halftime and then the manager will give us the message that he wants to give or whatever he has seen that we need to do differently in a way of getting a better result from the pressure. And I think that's what he gave to us, the calmness and the way he prepares games was very good. But when things were not going in the way we wanted, he gave responsibility to the players to like make it work, then we solve it. Ah, so like a bit of freedom to... It's not exactly freedom because freedom is a different thing.

46:32It gives you freedom with the ball to make decisions because he says, that's your responsibility. on the ball. I can't tell you where to pass the ball. I can't tell you where to shoot. I can't help you where the space is going to be and I think that the most important thing for a player is knowing where space is going to be. You need to know where spaces are to then play with it. You know that they have big gaps there that we can hurt them from there and this is the message that Michael has passed to the team. It's like, if we attack from here, they have less people on this side, we can bring more people in the box from this side, we want a very good counter press because they have two strikers so we need to have three people in the back two of them mark one of them stays behind so this is the small things in the foundation that he gives to us but then he says many times i can't tell you where to pass i can't tell you where to shoot i give you the solutions but might not be there so you have to find a way of making the good pass the good shot the good decision because i'm not going to be in your head in that moment in your head it's going to be the ideas i gave you and some of them will be good some of them won't work out so you have to make a way of like understand the good ones i gave you and the other ones that are not working well you need to find a way of make it work so it's more just he gives you the principles uh instead of specific instructions on how to play and what to do kind of gives you but then he lets you balance through the game okay he lets let's say he lets the players read the game because in 90 minutes many things happen and not gonna always happen what you see in the video hopefully yes but not always for example let's say we had the chance against Nottingham Forest that I passed the ball to Brian and his scores we have seen the same chance from Villa against Forest the exact same chance exact same movements exact same passes and we've seen that we visualize that and that's why that works because we had the ideas we knew we could make that happen and we made it does he get angry because he seems like such a calm guy when you see him in press conferences he's very calm and very you know yeah he did he did he did got hungry one once or twice but he's very calm in the way he speaks but i think i think everyone gets angry anyway but uh he's a very calm presence and he's someone that speaks very well knows the timing the words he knows what to say um and whenever he got when he let's get let's say more aggressive within us was was the time that we needed to to get that from him and the way that you play is interesting because when i was looking at um a bunch of your quotes over time but also how i think about business you are a player that takes more risks than most people and we talk a lot about failure in business and how you have to increase your rate of failure to to to get better outcomes but you're a player that is not shy of taking a risk and you play in a way where you sometimes lose the ball but you also as we've seen this year and in many other years you often are generating more opportunities than any other player on the pitch how do you think about this because the way you play means that sometimes you're going to make a lot of mistakes you're going to lose the ball more so than other players i'd argue even more so than some of the previous midfielders we've had like karik who would often choose a more safe option than trying to play it through a thin gap.

49:49What's your attitude towards risk? I think it's always risk-reward. You need to understand how much reward you're going to get from that and if taking that risk is good for the team or not. Let's say the position I play, you need that. It has to be one of your main skills to take risks, to do things that the game demands from you and to make sure that your teammates in the front get the ball in the positions, that is going to be, the rate of success for them to score a goal is going to be higher. I might miss two or three times, but if I get one right, that can become a goal for us. And I think there's nothing better than a risk reward that is a goal.

50:36So I think when you play as a number 10 position, obviously you don't want to lose the ball. You have to make that as less as possible. but in certain positions you lose the ball more often than others. Wingers will lose more the ball on 1v1s than midfielders do. Fullbacks will do normally more crosses than centre-backs will do. Number sixes will make more tackles than a striker will do. So it's a balance in the team that you need to have. Let's imagine I played with Kobe and Kassad. They're not a risk player. so if I take four times let's say a risky pass and they take one each that's six times a game so I need to be the one that takes four they need to be the ones that take one each because the responsibility they have in the team is the one that they make the team play from the build up push the team forward to then get the ball into the players that have to take the risks because if you don't have the players that take the risks you're going to end up bubbling.

51:44And we talk like, for example, let's say Man City. There is a team that, let's say, Guardiola, Tiki Taka, all these things. De Bruyne was the player that took the risks. Cherokee is now the player that took the risks. Phil Foden, Doku, Mahrez will be the ones that are taking the risks on a 1v1. Has the manager ever told you to take less risks? Eric told me to take less shots. Less shots. from the outside of the box. He showed me a board with my success rating of shots on target, shots of target and goals. Showed me the positions where I was more effective and he told me, I think you need to get more into these positions to then make your shot.

52:25Into what positions? Let's say close to the box, like in the position we will see the box and he would say like more throws left-hand side, you score more goals. More throws the right-hand side, you aim more the goal. towards the middle of the edge of the box, you miss more shots. So it was like, get more into the left side or get more into the right side or close range, long range. But then obviously we come back to the risk and reward because sometimes obviously you're going to score a great goal from 25 yards out. But how many times are you going to do it? Out of five, you maybe score one and it's a lot already.

53:06so I need to make that risk become less and less and less getting more risk probably from 18 yards because there's a possibility of me scoring a goal it might be three in five because I'm much more closer I can put more power on the ball I can be much more effective. I've spent the last decade building and investing in companies and so often the conversation around marketing budgets follows the exact same pattern. The budget gets approved, but then the results don't come back. And most of the time, the creative pitch and the offer is fine. The problem lies with the audience. Ads reach people who will never buy or refer, nor do they have the power to sign off anything at all.

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56:18With Ruben, you used to play three at the back, one wing back, two midfielders, another wing back and the striker, two tenths. With Ruben, I played a lot of times here. In this position, when he first came, and in this position, these two. More than often, he wanted me to be one of these two to help here. To help these two midfielders to build up and to get this guy higher, the position when he can be in the last line, and to get the ball into these two. So what position would you call that? Like left? This was the left 10, let's say. But he wanted me to play more like as a left midfielder. to help them to like, first of all, to have more stability in the middle.

57:08Second, to get the ball going forward, to take the risk of passing the ball forward. Then I played a lot of times here. What we're going to do is we're going to make you, unfortunately, we're going to make you blue just so we can see which one you are. Okay. So in this one, when I played here, many times you wanted me here because they were pressing, let's say, three against three and you wanted me to come and do the overload. So we have one more player to build up. So they will open up this one a little bit more, get this one more offensive. Normally it was Luke Shaw, as a fullback he was used to play in this space.

57:40And so then we could drive the ball and they couldn't press with the three they had. They wouldn't be able to press because we always had this one also to bounce the ball. Then whenever we go up the pitch with the ball, he wanted me here. Reuben did. Yeah. He wanted me to play more, a little bit more higher to be one of the three 10s and make this line of three 10s. Then, for example, with Ole, I was playing, we would play like four, two, three, one, and I would be the number 10, and you wanted me to do this. Oh, okay, go across. And sometimes you wanted me to do this and get the ball here or here to make the long passes and to make the switches to the wingers.

58:24I think this bit here in the middle is where I'm more against. And I think we all can see the best version of Bruno. If you ask me where I prefer to play, anywhere on the pitch. I think for the way we play, this is the position I can be more effective. But I think I really enjoy to play here because I really enjoy to get the team to play. And I played many times with Tenag like this. I was the number six playing with two eights. And I really enjoy it to play here. And it makes myself being a different player, more aggressive off the ball, someone that has to cover spaces for these ones. Regardless of where you are on the pitch, which can change, what is non-negotiable in terms of how you play?

59:19Commitment. That's non-negotiable. The commitment I have for what we have to do. It doesn't change by me liking the position or not, me preferring one position or the other. um that that won't change um i think running fighting and team spirit can never miss it doesn't appear to me that you ever get tired and also one remarkable thing about you is you don't seem to ever get injured i get tired and i got you roughly oh but how how does that happen because i watch you run the be the 89th minute and you're running up and down still is that genetic or is that something you do in training what is that i think obviously i've i have to say that i have good genetics but um is i i was talking with diogo about this the other day also in and the nutritionist about like genetics how you how you treat yourself and everything uh but then then at same time i said to them you know what's different on me than the other ones because i always train 100 i make the training as a game i don't care i go full and if i i don't feel good i i need to make some extras if i feel that the training wasn't like enough let's do something else let's do some shots let's do some crosses to someone let's do something that can make me go out of training and feeling like i'm tired why is that important because i think in the game you need to get tired and then you know like for example when you're when i'm training shooting practice or last third passes i rather train that when i'm tired because it's going to be the last 20 minutes of the game, your brain is not going to work in the same way it was working in the beginning because you get tired and you get to think slower a little bit.

1:00:58So you need to be able to train your body and your brain when they are tired. And I think if you do that in training, when you get to the game and you start getting tired, your brain is used to that also. Your body is used to be tired and it knows how to react into that moment. These core principles that have been central to how you play have led you to being given this the captain's armband which was quite there's lots of talk of it at the time because maguire was the captain before you and it's quite atypical for the captain to be displaced while they're still at the club and for someone else to be brought in and as fans from the outside we wonder how maguire takes that how harry reacts to that but also what that means to you to become captain of uh your dream club no obviously for me was a strange time because I was not expecting, you know, Tenac called me to his office to speak with me and to ask me if I wanted to be the captain of the club because he had decided to change the captain and he wanted me to be the one to lead the team from now on.

1:02:03Obviously, first thought was like very grateful. Something that I've never dreamed about, you know, like you can have many dreams but you don't dream about being the captain you know like of your club and I think the second thought was like this is going to be tough on Ari and the first person that I spoke with after I got out of that was Ari because he knew already I think the manager spoke to him and before I said yes I went to speak with him because the manager basically made me the question if I wanted also like he didn't said like you're going to be the captain that's it point he asked me and I went to speak with Ari and the first question I made was if he was leaving the club because obviously as you said it's not something normal I've never been through this in my whole career and I spoke with him about the offer that they gave it to me and to be honest to him he said like if there's someone that deserves that is you and I'm very happy that is you getting the captain armband that if I have to take care of myself, I think he really deserved that.

1:03:12And I think that was the point that made me understand that I was doing things right. Obviously, I know for him it was very difficult and I don't think he would have said something bad even if he felt it to me. But the way we spoke and the way I think I've been treating him through these years also in the same way of, like I said straight away to him, like you might have lost the armband, but he's still one of our leaders and that won't change everything that we've been through because Harry, when he was the captain, we always made decisions together also because I was one of them. And that hasn't changed now because every time I have to do or take some decisions for the team, I speak with certain players and Harry is one of them that is always there.

1:03:54And your performance this season speaks for itself. You've won, you've done 34 appearances, which I think is an achievement in and of itself because a lot of players aren't that consistent on the pitch. You've scored eight goals, 20 assists. You've got 12 Player of the Match awards, which is the most by any player in the Premier League. Six Player of the Month awards, and only Sergio Aguero, Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah have more. All of them have seven. And you've also won Matt Busby's Player of the Year award for the fifth time, the most by any other Man United player. And that's an award voted by the fans.

1:04:27And there's other awards that I know you've won in recent times. I saw you on stage the other day winning more awards. What has happened? why are you sudden you know you've been consistent throughout the whole time since you've been at the club but this year seems to stand out for some reason no I think I think for this season first of all I think when the team shines the individual comes up and I think this season has been much better from the last let's say two seasons at the same time I think the assists record and all this going around made me having a lot of headlines and stuff like that That obviously is an achievement that hasn't been done for any players, just Kevin De Bruyne and Thierry.

1:05:10I've got the little graph here. It says, yeah, Kevin De Bruyne and Thierry. I actually spoke to Thierry about this as well, and he sends his regards to you. Congratulates you on joining him up there with the record. Yeah, it's something that I'm very grateful for. I put my name in this case with them. up there is something that I've never dreamed about or think about. I'd probably start thinking about that when I got probably into 16, 17 assists. I was like, oh, I'm actually getting closer now. But it was not something that was in my head because in my head it's always improving my last season and getting better numbers, better outputs, better performance and it was never in my mind that I would go to 18, 19, 20 or whatsoever.

1:05:59but obviously when you start getting close you start thinking about a little bit and then all of us as fans start watching the games to see if you can do it and then and then obviously i think um i've been very consistent in terms of performance during my six years here but probably other years were people that stand out that more than me and that's why i probably didn't got as much attention as i did this season with being captain and with being at the biggest club in the world i think in terms of fan base um with that comes pressure and responsibility the world talks about you you know no matter what industry you're in an occupational hazard of being at the very very top or the peak of your powers or being even better is more and more talk and you know i think especially because of this people are talking even more about bruno fernandez than i've ever seen you know my group chat i've got man united group chat and we're watching the game we're watching we're willing you to we were willing you to reach this record which you did and now because you're you know people are saying you're the player of the year in the premier league they're they're giving you all these big awards with that comes even more criticism and i think this is where your childhood has prepared you yeah but your dad sounds like your dad prepared you i wanted to i wanted to clear something up because it was on my mind um and i imagine it's frustrating for you which is when your words are twisted in the media and recently roy keen criticized your mentality based on a quote he got completely backwards.

1:07:22He claimed you said, I should have shot, but I made the passes and used that to suggest that you were chasing individual assist stats. But everyone who actually listened to the interview, including myself, knows you said almost the exact opposite. You were being self-critical of yourself and saying you should have passed the ball instead of shot because you wanted the best for your team. And so interestingly, because I've spoken to so many of your players, your teammates over the last couple of days about you, they also told me that this is the exact opposite of your mentality on the pitch and off the pitch and i know it must be frustrating for your leadership style to be sort of misrepresented in that way how how do you respond to that like how do you deal with that when you hear it and you go that's not what i said yeah to be honest like i've always said i don't mind criticism i've always take criticism from everyone and anyone and i never replied to anything or whatsoever However, people have an opinion.

1:08:13They think it's good, bad, whatever. What I don't like was when people lie about things. And this case that you said about Roy Keane, basically what he said is a lie. Because you can either, either he saw some other interview or he can't say that I said one thing that I've just not said. And luckily for me, he's everything on record. Imagine if he wasn't like, then people will think like, oh yeah, Bruno is the guy always trying to go to assist. but one thing that is consistent is my number of creation is always the same so it's not that I've been trying to reach this now no I've been creating chances since I came to the Premier League probably more than anyone else so he hasn't changed that my type of play or aim of play or way of playing hasn't changed since I came to the Premier League it's not that this season probably Roy Keane saw someone like Bruno creating more because he wanted the assist worker no he's seeing the same Bruno that is about risky reward, is about creating chances for his teammates, is about getting the best out of the other ones.

1:09:09Because the thing is like, you will get criticized anyway. If you say, if you were scoring goals, you will get criticized because you're not passing the ball and you're shooting. If you're doing assists, it's because you're passing too much and you're not shooting to score goals. So it's going to always be like that. People will always make the balance the way they want. They won't balance things. They will put it the way they want the things to be. and obviously I think I've always showed a lot of respect for Joaquin and for everything he's done for the club and for everything he's always said.

1:09:40I've never ever had something to say. I've never said something wrong. I even asked Ole his number to text him, to be honest, to have a word with him to say that I don't mind the criticism. I don't like when people lie about things that I say because this goes a little bit over the top of the things that I think are acceptable. I accept the criticism I accept that he can say things that I don't like and I don't like to see it but as I said before that improves me what I don't like is that people make their own words on what I say and it's not true he can criticism criticizing me killing me say that I'm not good enough that I'm not a good captain for him that I'm not a good player for the club whatsoever it's bad it's okay I don't mind is it opinion I like it no obviously I prefer Roy Keane to give me some praise sometimes because I've achieved something that not many players have achieved.

1:10:34I understand that this club is about winning trophies. I've never taken that off my mind. I've always said in front of everyone that I want to win the Premier League and the Champions League. I never said I wanted to be the best player in the Premier League. Never one time any person has heard that Bruno wanted to get the assist record or get the goals record or get the player of the season or get being better than anyone else. No, Bruno wants the club to be successful Bruno wants the club to win trophies and that's all Bruno wants I accept his criticism I accept that he might like me as a player or not likes me as a person or not but what I don't like is that he puts words in my mouth that has not been said that's the only thing I don't like well I am I did actually ask your your teammates what you were like and I asked them on and off camera on and off the record I couldn't get some of them to be very serious but um what i what i received is lots and lots of voice notes from lots and lots of your your former players i text around uh last night and i'll play you what they said my friend bruno taking this opportunity to spread some love to you i just wanted to take this opportunity to tell you how much we value you as a player and as a person i think not many people get to see how are you after the games and outside of the pitch so I would say that's one of your best qualities the way you care the way you one of the first to help everyone leadership your consistency that's something that I take from from example and you know it it's been a lot of years together right now so hopefully this this can continue and we can win so many things and so much more things together.

1:12:24Skip that. Tom, for me, you're a world-class footballer, consistently world-class as well, which is very difficult. I think everyone knows that, how good you are. But I think more importantly, from my view, is how you are as a human being, and that's a side that not many people get to see. You know, they're caring, compassionate, supporting, demanding at the right times. but yeah I think for me that is by far and away probably your best quality it's why you're the leader of this team and such a good human being so for me proud to call you the captain but more importantly a friend so it's hot class I mean what he does on the pitch obviously speaks for itself but I mean away from football he's an unbelievable human being the way he treats people, looks after people the way he lifts others when they need it and I feel like the respect he gives everyone around him that says everything about his character and I feel like I've been lucky to spend a number of years with him and he's one of them people that you kind of appreciate having around you every single day.

1:13:33He's the type of player who makes people around him better without even trying. We love you, Capitano. We love you, Capitano. I mean I had so many more but we just don't have the time yeah no it's just you know the standout from that for me is just the way they speak from me as a person not more as a player you know like and you picked some people that I'm very demanding on them you know like Diogo and Lucas as being probably the players that have been more time with me Tom is probably up there with Harry, Luke, Diogo and then Tom. And these people that I really respect a lot. But as I said to you, it's not what they say about me as a player, it's more what they say from me as a person.

1:14:26That makes me very proud and very happy because you can be a good player and I'm going to meet a lot of good players in the world of football and you can train with a lot of them and meet them a lot. but I think that what it stays at the end is like the way you behave as a person and I like to see that I have the good values that my parents showed me. That's what I said at the start when you started describing what your parents had instilled in you back in Porto it sounded like what all your colleagues and the players you play with said to me as well because I've done this before and people will say oh he's a great player he's amazing whatever but what was consistently true through all of those messages and there's so many more is they all chose to speak about you as a human.

1:15:09Yeah. And that clearly comes from whatever your parents did at a young age. Why does that mean so much to you? I can see it in your face. No, because as I said to you, I think as a player you can be as good as you want. Like at the end of the day, I think the way you behave and the way you treat people around you is the most important thing because you spend so much time with them that they kind of become part of your day by day. You know, like you see more than often than I see my parents. For example, obviously my wife and my kids is the people that I see the most. But then after that is them.

1:15:46I don't see my friends from Portugal as often as them. My parents, my brother, my sister, I see more them. And the way I behave, the way I've been raised, the way I want to live my life and the way I want my kids to be is the way they've said things about me and this makes me very proud. What is that emotion? I don't know. It's just like, it's good to hear that. Just that. It's so interesting because I don't think anybody else that I've met would respond how you're responding to hearing people talk about you as a man and as a human. I don't know. I'm just a soft guy. It doesn't look on a pitch, but I'm quite a soft guy.

1:16:38One thing I've learned from interviewing a lot of founders and building companies myself is that trust is the real currency of business. It's the thing that gets customers to buy, partners to say yes, and investors to back you. But as you grow, trust stops being just a feeling and becomes something you have to prove. Because the bigger you get, the more exposed you are. Customer data, security expectations, regulations, all of it. And the risk of one small mistake becomes incredibly significant. And if you've ever tried to scale while keeping on top of all of that, you'll know it can become a full-time job.

1:17:07But our sponsor, Vanta, automates your compliance processes and brings compliance, risk, and customer trust together through their AI-powered platform. And the companies already using Vanta say they spend 82 % less time on audits because of Vanta's platform. So if your organization wants to inject time back into building and growing, make sure you head over to vanta.com slash diary. That's vanta.com slash diary. I've done almost 700 interviews with some of the most interesting people in the world. And one of the things you learn, which is unexpected, is that vulnerability is the doorway to connection.

1:17:41And after sitting here for two, three hours with a guest, I feel a deep sense of connection to them. And as they leave, what I get them to do is to write a question in the diary of a CEO. We've taken all of the questions from the Diary of a CEO, we have put the question here on this card with the name of the person that wrote it. So you can sit at home as I do with my fiance and my colleagues at work and other people in my life. Whenever we get a minute, we play the Diary of a CEO conversation cards. And it is incredible what happens. These are great if you're in a romantic relationship and you want to connect your partner more.

1:18:17These are also great if you're in a team and you want to bond your team together. And I have to say they're also great for families that want to learn more about each other and that need a good excuse to spend some time in a digital world in the analog environment connecting human to human. It is remarkable what the right question at the right time can do. Go to thediary.com and you can get these conversation cards right now. One of the things I learned through my investigations is that you have a clause in your contract and you don't have to confirm or deny this I'm not going to ask you to but what I discovered is that you have a clause in your contract which allows you to leave for, I found out,£60 million.

1:18:58And you chose not to leave Manchester United. You got a very, very, very large financial offer. I mean, I've seen some of the numbers that are reported, up to£200 million to leave Manchester United. And you chose not to leave. You could have rode off into the sunset. You, frankly, I think the way you were playing, you could have gone to almost any club in the world you could have got paid more and probably would have had a more certain guarantee of winning silverware and for some reason you chose to stay when that offer came in reportedly from the middle east that you know the big offer that we're hearing for a contract that was worth reportedly 200 million why didn't you go uh i said it before i i haven't fulfilled my dreams here you know at this club was that a conversation you had with your wife yeah also what was that conversation she seems to be there all the time when you make these big decisions oh of course she's the one probably i never make a decision by myself because obviously moving around nowadays with two kids as There's a lot to say, obviously.

1:20:11And more than, I don't know, become the most richest person in my hometown, I want to live my dreams and pass through the values to my kids that they need to have. And my family is always going to be the number one priority in everything I do because they followed my dream they um they my wife obviously i know on the other side it looks great life obviously a lot of money good a lot of good things but she chose to live my dream with me and that says a lot about her because let's say that when she chose to do that, I was 17 years old, going to a club with one point, like let's say, how do you say, 1500, you say?

1:21:161500. 500. Yes. A month in Italy, a lot of uncertainty, let's say she had her own life. She had her own dreams. And obviously, she said like, I'm going to help you. And that's what she did. since they were until now. So she always has a say on everything I do. And you've been with her since you were 16? You were 16? Yeah, 16. She was 16. I was about to be 17. So more or less. And then after that, we have constructed a beautiful family. Two beautiful kids. Yeah. And so on that day, when you get a big offer to leave Manchester United, she's the first person you speak to? Of course. As always, I spoke obviously first my agent because he speaks with me about the offer, but then the first thing I did was call her.

1:22:24And I was in, I think it was Hong Kong that we were. We went on the post-season tour and the timing was not the best to talk with her because of the time difference and everything. But she was there again. and what the words she said was like, have you achieved everything you wanted to achieve in your career? Is this the next step you want to give for your future and for your career? Because obviously this is the league I want to be, this is the best league in the world, this is where I'm going to enjoy my footballers, I'm not going to enjoy it in any other place. So we still have dreams to fulfill.

1:23:12Why does that make you emotional? I don't know. Talking about family, it's tough. Just because in the football career, you go through a lot of ups and downs and a lot of difficult moments. and let's say the ones that suffered most of them because they see your good moments, your bad moments, your good things, your bad things, your good side, your bad side also. But they always stand by you. So that's the most important thing you can have in life.

1:23:54She's always been there. She looks like my fiance a little bit. She Portuguese. Portuguese cousin. very down to earth I hear yeah she is she's the one that pushed me down to earth also when I'm probably getting too much or feeling too big she's always also very tough on me to make me understand that all the things to improve it's my let's say she's the second version of my dad

1:24:28probably that's why I chose her and she chose me in a certain way. Does she know this? Does she know? Have you been able to tell her? Yeah. She's not. She's going to, I can't say the words, what she's going to say after she sees this and sees me crying. She's going to say I'm very soft. I won't say the word exactly. Let's say I'm the affection one, you know, the one that likes hugs, that likes, she's more, I don't know, she's, she likes, she's, she, I think she, she's, through her life, she had, she had many things going on and she built this thing around her that she doesn't need, let's say she doesn't need much love whatsoever, but is there many moments where I know she needs, I know she feels it.

1:25:25I know she's just not good at saying what she feels. And I'm more open. I show more my emotions. I show more if I care, if I don't care, if I suffer, if I don't suffer. She kind of closes a little bit for herself.

1:25:46But she's a very strong woman, to be honest. I know you have two beautiful kids together. Yeah. We have a beautiful girl. That was the first one at the time we were in Italy. And then it came little Gonzalo when we were in England. So one, let's say that she's always saying that she's half Italian. And one that basically looks like British is white, blonde. And one half English, let's say. And then two full Portuguese people. I didn't realise your celebration where you cover your ears is for your daughter. Yeah. she covers her ears right yeah she used to do it when she was younger she's too old for that now she's a little Anna now very very strong-minded very strong attitude she has a lot from me in terms of being very strong and very she's like she can take care of herself very well is exactly like her mom well I wanted to say thank you I'm a Man United fan and hearing that you you know have gone through this very tumultuous period with the club where you could have gone, where you've had many offers from many people to go and do something else.

1:27:00And you've had offers where people offered you even more money. And for whatever reason, and I think I now understand because I've understood your values that your parents instilled in you, you chose to stay and to stick with us as a club and as a fan base. So on behalf of myself and all of my friends at Man United fans and the Manchester United fan base, I just wanted to say a huge thank you. Loyalty is increasingly rare these days in football because people are often thinking about other things. So as a Man United fan, thank you so much. By doing that, you've also taught me something as a man.

1:27:34You've also taught me what loyalty is and how you treat other people. And you've taught me a lesson about responsibility in my businesses, in my relationships and in my life. And I think this is a really important lesson because there are so many young men that look up to you. and what you've said through the good and the bad times is that you keep on going you keep on going you keep on fighting you don't give up you don't quit and it's so great that the captain of the biggest club on earth has those values and puts those values before other things that might tempt someone with less integrity so I just wanted to say a huge thank you and I also am passing that on from many of your teammates who are very very very glad that you stayed okay thank you very much I really appreciate that.

1:28:16That's very kind words from you. And I hope you stay even longer. Because I think we're coming into an interesting period in Manchester United where I think we have a lot of the sort of foundations in place now to carry on. That's what I hope so. And I think that's not the club, but everything in general, the fans and everyone, I think really, really deserve to be back to the glory days. Things have changed. I mean, Ineos are here now. I know quite a lot of the guys at Ineos. I was away in the tour with a couple of them during the American pre-season tour. And one of the things they said to me is that when they arrived in the club, there wasn't structure.

1:28:56A couple of them had said to me, there just wasn't. And it's so rare that you have this huge gap between the manager and the ownership or the players and the ownership that usually in clubs, there's structure. I think from what I've heard from players, they've put that structure in place now. how has it changed with Ineos' arrival? No I think first of all it was important because as you said not that we didn't have a structure but it was very difficult for players to understand where they had to go to talk in certain situations that we were not very clear we should talk with and now I think it's very clear that you have Jason then you have Omar and then you have Sergim I'm very aware that now the structure that we have is a good foundation and a good base for us to understand where and which places we need to go if we need something as a club or as players.

1:29:49Has it improved? We started a process with Ruben where we thought that would be a process of three, four years. That was the plan of the club. Then we know there was a break in a relationship there between the manager and the club and they had to change, unfortunately. and now today they have announced that they want to go in a direction with Michael and hopefully for me I hope that he stays stable because the main thing the club needs is stability in terms of managing because if you really believe that Michael is the guy and you took him to the job I think you have to give him the foundations he needs to build what he thinks he needs for a successful team at the same time I think you brought someone in that knows what are the values of the club.

1:30:34And I think that's the main thing and the most important thing that the club brings people in that know the values and know what's needed and have a great character to be at this club. And Michael's the guy? Yeah, because as I said, I think he's the one that knows the club better than any player that's here. He's been probably more time at the club. I've been with him as a manager, assistant manager and then manager. The way he behaves, he shows that he has the character to be the manager of Man United and think that's very important to have someone that in the full process will know always where he wants to go, where he wants to be and how much he wants this club to succeed.

1:31:13You said to me earlier that since Michael Carrick has joined, Man United have won more points than any club in the Premier League and that's statistically accurate. For this to continue on and to continue going forward, obviously the summer is going to be really, really important. And I was talking to a few of the other players about this as well, like Diego. What needs to happen this summer in your opinion for Manchester United to continue to move up and potentially even fight for the title? We need recruitment. Obviously, we know, like, obviously, we're losing Casemiro. There is a powerful thing that we had.

1:31:42So we're going to need a player to replace him. Either he's a player that is already in the house. Either he's a player that's coming. We need to reinforce the team to become stronger as a team. Not we need the best player in the world, this or that. No, we need players that want to come to United to understand that through a process that we want to win the league, but it might not happen. But this is the way we want to go to become the successful club that we were before. So I think the recruitment has to be the right one. We need to bring the right people in again, as we did last summer. I think in that Ruben was great in the choices he made to bring the players he did to the club because he brought good characters, good players and good professionals also.

1:32:23And I think that's very important for the next one. Bruno, we have a closing tradition on this podcast where the last guest leaves a question for the next guest, not knowing who they're leaving the question for. And the question that's been left for you is, if we sat here in five years' time, and the five years that had just passed were a huge success, what would have had to have happened? Huge success. Let's say that I've won the Premier League, I've won the Champions League with the club, and we've brought... Got the old... We've brought the club back to the place it has to be in terms of club.

1:33:02Obviously, in five years' time, I would like to be able to touch one of the gold ones too with my national team. Of course, let's say that's my biggest goal in terms of career. The World Cup. Probably the World Cup. I would say because winning the Premier League and the Champions League with this club will be amazing. but representing my nation will be always the biggest achievement I have in my career because not many players get to do that, you know, like representing your, this is when you represent your people, when you represent your parents, your brother, sister, wife, kids. This is, you represent that small nation in size, but in size but big in quality and big in in love and and fearless a fearless country that has conquered the world many times in different ways and do it in a in in a football way will be will be a great achievement for us irrespective of what happens here and i i very much believe that manchester united has now the potential to go and challenge for these trophies here because of all the hard work that has been put in by many people in this club but also because of your loyalty irrespective of what happens you're going to be a cult hero at this club forever not not not irrespective of this stuff because i think you've done something which is even harder and even more in the modern world which is you've shown tremendous loyalty unbelievable character you've shown humanity and you've set an example for the club when we were at our weakest when we needed someone to do that the most it's all well and good doing it when everything's great it's all well and good but doing being that committed and that loyal and setting that much of an example and continuing to run on the pitch, but also to be an exceptional human off the pitch when times are hard, I think, says even more about a man.

1:34:53So again, on behalf of all the Man United fans, a huge, huge thank you. And please sign the contract. When he's in the table. Bruno, thank you. Thank you very much. We're done. Thank you so much. It was a privilege. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.

1:35:19Thank you.

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