Man Utd: Fernandes reveals transfer demand he made before signing a new deal at Old Trafford

Bruno Fernandes has revealed that he asked Man Utd to impress in the summer transfer market before agreeing to sign a new contract.

There were rumours at the end of last season that the Portugal international could be sold amid rumours of interest from Bayern Munich and the Saudi Pro League.

However, Fernandes ended up staying at Man Utd and signing a new contract after being promised that the club would be ambitious in the summer transfer market.

Leny Yoro, Matthijs De Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee and Noussair Mazraoui have all arrived to strengthen the Red Devils and Fernandes has revealed his productive talks with the Man Utd hierarchy before signing a new deal.

Fernandes told the club’s official website: “The club knew that I want to compete with the best teams. They knew that we needed to improve the team. And I think that we’re doing that.”

The Man Utd captain added: “Obviously, I said to them: ‘I don’t need you to promise me that we’re going to win the league.’ Because no-one can promise that.

“But at least that we will have a team to compete and be competitive through the season, to try to achieve silverware and to compete in the highest levels.

“I think the club is doing that. It’s trying to bring people in to get more players with quality in the team; to get more competitive, [so everyone is] fighting for your place.

“But my first choice was always to stay at the club. It was not even demands, but the things that I wanted to see: the club going forward, [so] I could see a future on that.

“To be honest, I look now and I see that the club is making an effort for that.”

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Former Man Utd striker Dimitar Berbatov has encouraged Rasmus Hojlund to increase his goal output and warned the Dane and Zirkzee that they will both be judeged on hitting the back of the net this season.

Berbatov told FUTBIN : “Especially now that United have Ruud van Nistelrooy in the coaching team. So now if you don’t take this opportunity to learn from one of the best who used to score goals for fun, you’re wasting your time.

“Speak to Ruud, ask questions, visit his home if you have to, be respectful, listen to him, learn, ask questions and try to add that to your game.

“Højlund’s goal ratio must improve. He should be better and I think he can be better. He can do better but it comes down to concentration levels. Keeping his concentration levels high throughout all the games because he had good goal scoring opportunities and didn’t score them.

“So this is the moment where he has to work even harder which won’t be easy but it’ll be beneficial.

“It’s going to be a competition and because there’s a lot of football to be played it’s good to have different options for different games and opponents. Sometimes you have to decide your team based on the opponents and the defenders of the team.

“Sometimes it’s difficult for the attackers to understand why they’ve been benched and why another attacker is playing ahead of him but this is the job of the manager.

“My wish is, especially with Rasmus having a year in the Premier League, for them to score goals as soon as possible. This is how strikers are judged.

“As a striker I also look out for so many other things. How they open up the pitch, the spaces they leave for their team mates, how they control the ball, dropping back to get on the ball and then getting up the pitch, following the game.

“For Zirkzee and Højlund, the most important thing is scoring goals.”