Roy Keane has cleared the air with Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes after he misquoted the Portuguese midfielder on a podcast, prompting Fernandes to accuse him of lying.
The row began when Keane, speaking on The Overlap podcast after the penultimate round of Premier League fixtures in May, claimed Fernandes had said "I probably should have shot but I made them passes" in an interview following a 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest. Fernandes had just broken the record for the most assists in a single Premier League season, setting up his 21st goal against Brighton on the final day of the 2025-26 campaign.
“Roy Keane has cleared the air with Bruno Fernandes after misquoting the Manchester United captain, leading to accusations of lying.”
But Fernandes hit back, insisting the quote was a "lie" and pointing out that his actual post-match comments were: "There were probably moments today when I should have passed instead of shot. I'm very happy for the assist, but more than that, I'm happy for the win and to finish the season on a high."
Keane had also described Fernandes as being at the centre of a "circus act" and questioned his mindset, implying the 30-year-old was prioritising individual accolades over the team's success.
Fernandes said he wanted to meet the former Manchester United captain to discuss the issue, and in Wednesday's Stick to Football podcast, Keane revealed the pair had spoken. "There was a reaction after what we said on the podcast a few weeks ago and he reached out to me and wanted a chat - I called him and we had a lovely chat," Keane said.
"It was nice because when we do podcasts or games, sometimes you think you say something afterwards and you communicate something and it doesn't come across properly, so people get upset and he said he wanted to talk to me. We had a nice, mature conversation."
Keane said he valued the exchange, though he prefers to keep his distance from current players. "I like having boundaries with players. I don't want to be speaking to players every few weeks or their agents, I don't want to go down that road, but every now and then a player might reach out, so I think it was important I spoke to him."
"There has been lots going on and lots reported. He's obviously a big player for United, I'm an ex-United player and I think the idea of this communicating and having a proper conversation, I really enjoyed it. Hopefully I think he did as well. Nice chat about a bit of everything and I felt better afterwards," Keane added.