Manchester United and Portugal midfielder Bruno Fernandes has now revealed the profound impact that a former club teammate had on him in the Serie A.
Bruno Fernandes spent a large part of his senior playing career in Italy and the Manchester United captain played for the likes of Novara, Udinese and Sampdoria.
The 31-year-old Portuguese midfielder returned to his native homeland after he left Sampdoria in 2017 and signed for Primeira Liga outfit Sporting CP.
Fernandes’ success at Sporting CP would catch the eye of United and the Red Devils would bring him to Old Trafford in 2020 during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign.
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Man Utd captain Bruno Fernandes reveals how former Udinese striker Antonio Di Natale transformed his shooting
Long before Manchester United paid the initial £47m fee to land Bruno Fernandes, the Red Devils skipper was developing his career in the Serie A with Udinese.
Fernandes played 95 times for Udinese and the Portugal international netted 11 times and registered 13 assists for the Serie A club during his playing spell.
Speaking ahead of the 2026 World Cup, the former Udinese player touched on the trajectory of his playing career after his successful 2025-26 season at Man Utd.
Fernandes explained that legendary former Udinese striker Antonio Di Natale altered his mindset for how to strike the ball so cleanly in the final third of the pitch.
“And I ended up having a year, four months there, where I had to train a lot, work a lot,” he told ESPN.
“And I had two coaches who trained with me separately, technical coaches, so to speak, who made me even better.”
Fernandes continued: “With all this, I also had Di Natale, who taught me how to hit the ball, how to position the body, how to take the steps before hitting the ball, the positioning of the goalkeeper and the positions where we are shooting.”
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Man Utd and Portugal star Bruno Fernandes recalls his major development in Italy as a player
Fernandes ended a stunning season at Old Trafford by breaking the record for the most Premier League assists in a single season.
The former Sporting CP and Udinese midfielder admitted that his career has been challenging at times, especially during his time in the Serie A.
“It’s about not thinking too much,” Fernandes explained.
“I think that, obviously, it’s work, it’s training, and also something that has been born with me a bit since my childhood, which has always been one of my attributes, the pass and the shot. But with that came a lot of work.
“I remember my time in Italy, which was difficult for me. In the first year of Udinese, I had been signed from the Italian second league to Novara and I [arrived] at Udinese thinking that: I was signed for €5million ($5.8m), which at the time was a lot of money, I’m going to play, I’m going to be the player who’s going to join here.”
Fernandes is set to represent Portugal at the World Cup in North America this summer alongside the likes of Diogo Dalot and Cristiano Ronaldo.
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