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Manchester United's midfield maestro Bruno Fernandes has revealed he still harbors ambitions of doing more to cement his legacy at the club.
Despite recently being named the FWA Footballer of the Year following an impressive season at Old Trafford, Fernandes continues to be the subject of transfer speculation, with a potential sale seen as a way to finance a long-overdue midfield overhaul.
Saudi Arabian clubs remain interested, having missed out on signing Fernandes last summer, while there will certainly be suitors across Europe for a player on the verge of breaking the Premier League's single-season assist record.
Speaking to the FWA, Fernandes expressed his pride at joining club icons such as Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Sir Bobby Charlton in receiving the prestigious annual award, but acknowledged he is far from satisfied with what he has accomplished at United so far.
"I want to achieve everything that those players achieved in terms of winning with the club," he promised. "But being in their company with this award is massively important for me and I won't hide from that.
"It will always be the prize for me. That's always what my goal has been. I've never hidden from that. I'm not very good at hiding things!
"I speak out whenever I want on what I want to achieve and what I want to achieve is winning the league and winning the Champions League."
Could Bruno Fernandes Leave Man Utd This Summer?
A glance at Fernandes's season statistics would immediately prompt questions about why United would even entertain the idea of letting him go.
With eight goals and a remarkable 19 assists, Fernandes is enjoying some of the finest form of his career and has been the driving force behind much of United's success, especially since interim manager Michael Carrick took charge in January.
At 31 years of age, it is undeniable that Fernandes is entering the latter stages of his career, yet he has shown absolutely no signs of decline. While he may not be a permanent fixture at Old Trafford indefinitely, there is every reason to believe he can still guide the team toward a promising future.
Regrettably for Fernandes, he could become a casualty of the increasingly business-driven nature of modern football.
United invested heavily in players last summer and are anticipated to do so again this window, with a midfield spending spree that could comfortably surpass $269 million (£200 million) on the horizon.
The difficult truth is that certain players will need to be offloaded to help finance those acquisitions, and Fernandes ranks among the club's most valuable commodities.
Fernandes has made his desire to stay at United abundantly clear, but has indicated he will not stand in the way of a departure should the club opt to cash in. Those at the helm of Old Trafford would have no wish to lose Fernandes as a footballer, but from a financial standpoint, a hypothetical sale would ultimately go a considerable way toward funding their ambitions.
Securing Champions League qualification will have significantly relieved much of the financial strain on United, who stand to earn substantial sums simply by participating in Europe's premier club competition next season. The urgency to sell Fernandes has lessened considerably, but given the scale of United's transfer ambitions this summer, a departure—however improbable—cannot be entirely dismissed.