Bruno Fernandes was 'really angry' at not being allowed to join Tottenham

Manchester United star Bruno Fernandes has spoken of the anger he felt when Sporting CP didn't let him join Tottenham in 2019.

Fernandes has become one of the Premier League's top performers since arriving at Old Trafford at the start of 2020, but he almost moved to a different club in England six months earlier.

His displays in Portugal had caught the of Mauricio Pochettino and Spurs, who approached Sporting in the summer of 2019. The Portuguese international was keen on making the move, but his club weren't willing to let him go at that point.

Speaking to The Athletic, he admitted that he was furious at the time at not being allowed to join the London club, with only his manager able to calm him down.

“Obviously I wanted to go to the Premier League," he said. "The manager, Mauricio Pochettino, was the one who wanted me there. It was a good offer but Sporting tried their best to keep me.

“The president (Frederico Varandas) spoke with me but he spoke with me on the wrong day. It was the day after they decided to refuse the offer from Tottenham and I was really angry.

"Luckily for me, the manager (Marcel Keizer) was the right one at the right time. [He understood I] would like to go, that it is a bigger offer, that it is my dream to play in the Premier League and it didn’t happen."

Fernandes would, of course, make that dream come true soon enough. Ole Gunnar Solskjær travelled to watch him play in the first week of 2020 before deciding to bring the midfielder to Manchester United.