Roy Keane appeared to escalate his feud with Bruno Fernandes on Monday by sharing a cryptic social media post that seemed to call the Manchester United captain a donkey.
The former Manchester United hardman has criticised Fernandes repeatedly in recent years over his leadership, attitude and body language. The row intensified earlier on Monday when Fernandes labelled Keane a liar and revealed he had sought out his rival's phone number to have a word with him.
Fernandes' comments followed criticism from Keane on The Overlap, where Keane suggested the Portuguese midfielder had admitted to targeting a Premier League assists record over the benefit of the team. Keane's claim was based on a misconstrued quote. Fernandes had actually criticised himself for shooting instead of passing during United's game against Nottingham Forest on May 17, but Keane interpreted the comment the wrong way round, claiming Fernandes had admitted to passing simply to reach the assists record.
On Instagram, Keane shared a photo of a roaring donkey with two lions visible in the background, captioned: "Too much attention makes a donkey think he's a lion." The post appeared to be a jab at Fernandes.
Fernandes hits back at Keane
Speaking on the Diary of a CEO podcast earlier that day, Fernandes said he did not mind criticism and never replied to it, but objected to Keane lying about what he had said. He said everything was on record, and that without that record, people might believe he was always chasing assists rather than playing his natural game.
Fernandes said his style of creating chances had not changed since he joined the Premier League and that Keane had watched the same Bruno throughout. He said he had always shown respect for Keane and for what Keane had done for the club, and insisted he had never said anything wrong.
Fernandes said he had asked former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for Keane's number so he could tell him directly that he did not mind criticism but disliked being lied about. He said he accepted Keane could criticise his captaincy or ability, calling it Keane's opinion, but added that he would prefer Keane to praise him occasionally given what he had achieved.
Fernandes' record-breaking season
Fernandes set up Patrick Dorgu's opening goal against Brighton on Sunday for his 21st assist of the season, a Premier League record that surpassed the previous best of 20, held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne in their best campaigns.
According to Squawka, the 31-year-old created 136 chances over the season, far ahead of second-placed Dominik Szoboszlai on 78.
Daily Mail Sport understands United have opened talks to keep Fernandes at the club amid interest from European and Saudi Arabian sides, who also pursued him last summer. Fernandes is under contract until next year and has a £57million release clause, though United hold the option to extend his deal by a further year and are keen for him to stay.