Man Utd midfielder Bruno Fernandes wants to be on similar money to the club’s top earners with wantaway striker Anthony Martial earning double his wages, according to reports.
The Portugal international again showed his value to the Red Devils with a brace in their 2-2 draw against Aston Villa on Saturday.
Fernandes had gone through a bit of a dry spell by his standards with only one goal and one assist in the previous ten matches in all competitions – but he has been consistently one of their best performers since joining from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020.
Premier League winners and losers (incl. Premier League)
The 27-year-old has contributed a brilliant 33 goals and 22 assists in 70 Premier League appearances for Man Utd since completing an initial £47m transfer from Portugal.
Fernandes doubled his £50,000-a-week wages when he joined Man Utd but he is now ‘looking for parity with leading earners’ at the Premier League club.
Man Utd attempted to renew Fernandes’ contract on improved terms in November 2020, only for Fernandes and his representatives to reject the deal.
The Athletic now claims that ‘those talks have been temporarily shelved’ but that ‘negotiations are expected to resume in May, when Fernandes and United are clearer about the team’s situation next season’.
Martial – who is actively looking to leave the club – earns twice as much as Fernandes and the report from Laurie Whitwell and Dan Sheldon in The Athletic adds:
‘Cristiano Ronaldo has United’s highest salary, worth more than £400,000 per week, with David de Gea on £375,000 per week. Paul Pogba, Raphael Varane, Anthony Martial, Jadon Sancho, Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford are all believed to receive £200,000 per week or more, with Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw close to that figure.
‘United have offered Fernandes improved terms but he is looking for parity with the squad’s leading salaries given his importance to the team. His form has been scrutinised this season but only Mohamed Salah (45) and Harry Kane (34) have scored more Premier League goals since he arrived. He has scored 33 times and registered 22 assists from 70 games in England’s top flight.
‘United are relaxed about the situation. The club are under no pressure to re-sign Fernandes, who is contracted to June 2025 with the option for a further year.’
Meanwhile, Fernandes urged Man Utd to learn from their draw against Villa at the weekend after throwing away a tw0-goal lead near the end of the match.
“I think when we played well was the moments that we played more compact, more calm, with clear the ideas about what we are doing and everyone was following the ideas,” Fernandes told MUTV.
“That’s why I think the first 30 minutes was really good. After, the game started to be a little bit more balanced for both sides.
“But still in the second half I think we come on in the second half doing well, doing the right decisions – wait when we have to wait, press when we have to press.
“But that’s it. When you don’t get the result, you have to find what’s going on at the moment to concede two goals when the game was controlled.
“As I said before, now it’s time to understand what we can do better and go to the next game and try to win. That will be another tough game.”
The post Fernandes demands ‘parity’ with Martial and co at Man Utd appeared first on Football365.