Bruno Fernandes has slammed British pundits for comparing him to Nicolas Pepe. The Manchester United midfielder has struggled to recapture the exciting form which he once enjoyed at Old Trafford, drawing comparisons to the Arsenal winger.
The 28-year-old has featured six times for Erik ten Hag's side in the Premier League this season, directly contributing towards just two goals. Fernandes' lacklustre displays have seen him become subject to growing criticism as the Red Devils continue to be starved of the prolific goalscorer that they once relished.
The Portugal international has issues with how his poor form is labelled compared to his competitors, using Pepe as an example. In an interview with The Athletic, Fernandes spoke of his treatment upon his high-profile £58million arrival to United in January 2020.
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"He [Pepe] had some bad games and everyone was saying: 'He still has to adapt'. But when Bruno was having a bad game, it was just because he was moaning or not focused on the game," Fernandes said. "For me, that was good, because it meant that I was ready and that’s why they were demanding so much from me."
Pepe is currently on loan at Ligue 1 side Nice as he looks to find first-team opportunities after falling out of favour under Mikel Arteta. Explaining his decision to let the player leave, the Arsenal boss said: "It’s been three years since he joined the club and he’s had some very good moments, some others where he hasn’t really contributed that much to the team in terms of minutes.
"We decided for every party it was the best decision to allow him to go. He needs to play football, he was really adamant to do that."
"I think he has tried to deal with that [his price tag] in the best possible way," Arteta added. "He’s not responsible for the price. He’s tried everything. His attuite is phenomenal, if you meet him you love him. But we have to make decisions. We have made other decisions and that has had an impact on his chances to prove his quality."
Then, when asked whether he could come back and play at Arsenal again one day, Arteta replied: "He needs his minutes, he’s been talking to me a lot about that. I could not guarantee that right now. If you stay in that period for too long then frustration comes in and the level of performance won’t be what we want. In the end we came to this decision."
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