Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho has revealed that he will be leaving the club at the end of the season after almost a decade with the Etihad club.
It came as a surprise to head coach Pep Guardiola sitting next to him at the press conference.
The Brazilian stated that he will most likely return to his homeland next season before retiring, having seen his minutes on the pitch diminish in the last year or two.
Fernandinho stayed eight years at Shakhtar Donetsk before joining City in 2013.
He won four Premier League titles, one FA Cup and six EFL Cups. He is the current club captain, but it seems that his time in Manchester is coming to an end.
The veteran dished out the news on his manchester City’s future during the Prematch interview for the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Atletico Madrid.
“I don’t think so. Yes, I want to play more; I will go back to Brazil. I decided with my family, which is the most important thing for me. And some people in the club know it,” said Fernandinho.
The Catalan coach was left genuinely shocked by the news, claiming that it was the first he was hearing of it, but that he respected the player’s intentions.
“I didn’t know it. You gave me the news. We will see what will happen at the end of the season. I said many times we will see what happens,” said Guardiola.
“I said at the end of the season we will talk – maybe it is a family decision, maybe he wants more minutes. I would love to be with him.
“Maybe Txiki [Begiristain] knows it and didn’t tell me. I don’t know. It is a surprise for me; I will say to him [Txiki]: ‘What happened?’ But I know his [Fernandinho’s] intentions. Another player would do it for his benefit. Knowing Ferna, it will not be this.”
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