Omar Berrada has not ruled out Bruno Fernandes leaving Manchester United in the summer, though the chief executive is adamant the club wants the captain to stay.
The 31-year-old Fernandes was voted the Football Writers' Footballer of the Year after making a record-breaking 21 assists in the Premier League but has offered mixed messages about his future.
When asked if he believed Fernandes will stay, Berrada said: "We'd like him to stay, of course we do. He's had a great season on the pitch but more importantly he's shown to everybody that he is a great leader. People don't see what he does outside of the pitch. He understands the values of the club really well and I think we've seen him help a lot of the younger signings."
Fernandes's contract expires next summer and has an option for an extra 12 months, but in November he claimed he had been "hurt" by the club. "At one point I was going to leave but I would have won many trophies that season," he told Canal 11, a Portuguese Football Federation-owned channel. "But from the club's side, I felt a bit of: 'If you go, it's not really that bad for us.' More than hurting, it makes me sad, because I'm a player they have nothing to criticise me for."
Yet in March Fernandes hinted he would still be at United next season. "My goal has always been to win the biggest competitions and the Premier League is part of it. And I still have that dream in me and I hope to achieve it," he told ESPN in an interview that emerged earlier this week.
Berrada claimed that trust between the executive and staff has been rebuilt following two rounds of redundancies that left around 450 people unemployed. "It is true that the cost was very high for many people and it's taken a while for the club to build back that trust between staff, management, owners," he said.
"I think we're in a much better place now and as we have seen in the latest financial results, those tough decisions have borne their fruit in the sense that it's allowed the club to be where it needs to be moving forwards."
He insisted United have a "clear plan" and will not allow market forces or agents to dictate their summer transfer plans. United are understood to have already agreed a £35m fee with Atalanta for the Brazilian midfielder Éderson with more additions expected.
Berrada told the Inside Carrington podcast: "I think the template of what we did last summer will be replicated. We have a clear plan. I do think what we saw last season is a good way forward for us, which is we want a mix of experience and youth, we want a mix of players who have demonstrated they can perform in the Premier League and perhaps also players who are doing very well outside the Premier League.
"But we will always do it within our terms, ensuring that whatever decision we take is not just for the short term, but also for the long term. We have to be really disciplined, it's simple. We know what we can invest and we have to stick to that.
"It's very important that you don't let the market or the agents dictate what we should be doing."
The goalkeeper Tom Heaton has signed a new one-year contract at United, extending the third-choice goalkeeper's career into a 21st season. The 40-year-old made his debut in 2005 for Swindon during a first five-year spell at United that ended in 2010, returning to the club in 2021.
