Bruno Fernandes has put Manchester United's long look at Declan Rice back in the spotlight. The Manchester United captain said he was “really sad” when Declan Rice chose Arsenal in 2023, after leaving West Ham for an initial £100m rising by £5m in add-ons. It is not a wild complaint from the outside. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has already said United discussed Rice several times and believed he would have done well in midfield.
Why Fernandes sees Rice as a United fit
Fernandes did not dress it up. “I’ve always said, Rice was a player to play for Man United, I was really sad when he chose to go Arsenal. I always thought he would be a perfect fit for our club,” he told mirror.co.uk. That is the cleanest version of the argument, and it makes sense because the club had already done the homework on him.
Solskjaer backed that up in his own way. “Yeah, [there was interest] I really, really like him as a player. We discussed him a few times and I think we would have done well with him in midfield,” he said. He added that Rice’s “legs, covering the pitch” and improved “playmaking” were part of the appeal. When a former manager and a current captain are saying the same thing about a midfielder, the regret is not invented after the fact.
What the move would have meant for United
The source material also adds a useful bit of scene-setting. Fernandes and Rice trained together at the Campus facility in the Algarve three years ago, alongside Joao Cancelo and James Maddison. That does not prove anything on its own, but it does show the pair were already in each other's orbit before Arsenal won the race.
Fernandes's own output gives the complaint more weight. He has 19 goal contributions in 33 Premier League appearances this season, so this is not a player talking up a fantasy while his own form is fading. The bigger point is simpler: United's interest in Rice was real, they discussed him repeatedly, and the move ended with Arsenal. Fernandes has now said out loud that he wished the outcome had gone the other way, and United are left with that £100m-plus signing having gone to a rival instead of Old Trafford.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
