Roy Keane fires back strongly at Bruno Fernandes in heated argument over assist record
Manchester United legend Roy Keane has taken a swipe at club captain Bruno Fernandes during their ongoing public disagreement.
On the last day of the 2025/26 Premier League season, Fernandes made history by breaking the official record for the most assists in a season—though the goal that gave him the record sparked some controversy. He passed both Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne by providing his 21st assist against Brighton, setting up Patrick Dorgu’s opening goal.
Keane, a former United captain, admitted he was “raging” and felt awkward watching United players celebrate Fernandes matching the record in the game before against Nottingham Forest.
Speaking on The Overlap, Keane said, “After the game, he got interviewed, and the captain of Manchester United said, ‘Yeah, a few times I probably should have shot, but I made those passes.’ Wow. How can a player’s mindset be about chasing individual records in a match?”
Fernandes responded to Keane in an interview on the Diary of a CEO podcast with Steven Bartlett. He said, “I don’t mind criticism and I usually don’t reply. People can have opinions, good or bad. But I don’t like when people lie. What Roy Keane said about me is not true. Either he saw a different interview or he’s putting words in my mouth that I never said. I accept his criticism, whether he likes me as a player or a person, but I don’t like being misquoted.”
However, Keane seemed unwilling to drop the matter. Shortly after Fernandes’ response was shared online, Keane posted a message on his Instagram story that seemed directed at Fernandes: “Too much attention makes a donkey think he’s a lion.”
During the podcast, Fernandes also mentioned that he had reached out to his former manager, Solskjaer—who worked with Keane in the past—to get Keane’s contact details to talk privately about the disagreement. It’s not clear if they’ve spoken yet, but it looks like their feud isn’t over just yet.