'Bruno Fernandes wanted me at Man Utd'

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 13 Oct 2024 09:35 CDT
• 3 min read

Inter Milan midfielder Piotr Zielinski has revealed that Bruno Fernandes wanted him to join Manchester United during his time at Napoli.

Zielinski, 30, moved to San Siro on a free transfer this summer, having spent eight years at Napoli, but he has admitted that Fernandes was eager to play alongside him at Man Utd.

Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona and West Ham United were also interested in finalising a deal for Zielinski, but Inter won the race for his signature upon the expiration of his Napoli contract in 2024.

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The Poland international, who has 96 caps for his country, told Foot Truck: “At one time, Bruno Fernandes wanted me to end up in Manchester.

“We are still in touch, we talk quite often - we played together in Udinese, and in one of the matches we practically single-handedly beat Milan. As for West Ham - it was also close, De Laurentiis [Napoli president] was also already convinced about the offer, they threw in €35 million.

“There was already looking around for medical care for my wife and child, where I was going to live. Coach [Luciano] Spalletti took me aside once and asked me what was going on, and I said I would rather stay, fight for the championship. He said I want you to stay and that it would be the best version of Zielinski.

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The Poland star continued: “Liverpool sent a private jet to Florence for me and I flew with my agent Bartlomiej Bolek - we drove up to [Jurgen] Klopp’s house afterwards, we had a great conversation.

"It was the first time I had flown like that. He said that for him I was a mix of [Ilkay] Gundogan and [Cesc] Fabregas.

“We watched a Premier League match at his place on his giant TV, I had never seen anything like that either. Arsenal were closer to realisation than Barcelona because De Laurentiis didn’t want a few boys from La Masia in return.”

Bruno Fernandes wanted Piotr Zielinski to join Man Utd

Zielinski has made six appearances for Inter since his summer move, but he is yet to start a Serie A game so far this campaign, with Hakan Calhanoglou, Nicolo Barella and Henrikh Mkhitaryan preferred in the middle of the park.

Instead of landing Zielinski, Man Utd decided to purchase Manuel Ugarte from Paris Saint-Germain for an initial €50 million.

The Uruguay international has, however, been a substitute in the Red Devils’ past two fixtures.