Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed that he had to get Cristiano Ronaldo’s telephone number from former United left-back Patrice Evra before contacting him to ask about Bruno Fernandes before United purchased the Portuguese midfielder from Sporting Clube de Portugal during the January transfer window.
The Norwegian manager was aiming to get Ronaldo’s thoughts on Fernandes before United signed the player, which was a good thing to do seeing as United needed the impetus from someone this season with creativity seemingly a major problem in the squad before the 25-year-olds arrival at the Theatre of Dreams.
It has previously been reported that Ronaldo’s glowing endorsement of his compatriot’s ability helped him seal his dream move to United earlier this year, which has been a revelation in helping United achieve on the pitch with the Portuguese midfielder scoring eight goals and seven assists in 15 appearances for the club so far.
Solskjaer, explaining on the clubs High Performance podcast talked about Evra being the facilitator in him getting in contact with Ronaldo to speak about Fernandes about a possible transfer and it seems what Ronaldo said was a glowing reference to the midfielder which ended with him signing for United and pulling the string right away. Solskjaer said:
“So obviously Cristiano [Ronaldo] was an easy goal for me that I managed to get through.
“Through Patrice Evra, I managed to get hold of Cristiano and his recommendation obviously stood him [Bruno Fernandes] in good stead.”
Fernandes has done well at United so far, winning back to back Premier League Player of the Month awards for March and June, the gap being the suspension of the Premier League from mid-March until mid-June because of the coronavirus pandemic. Fernandes’ partnership with Paul Pogba in midfield is a positive one which will drive the player’s and club forward, contesting for honours in the near future.
