Veteran Manuel Fernandes reflects on Benfica love amid hopes for Portugal homecoming

Portuguese international Manuel Fernandes left the country of his birth in 2006 at the age of just 20, heading to the English Premier League with Portsmouth. The midfielder has since spent 17 years playing abroad, but with retirement in sight, Fernandes has eyes on a late homecoming before hanging up his boots.

Once tipped as a future superstar when coming through the ranks at Benfica, the now 37-year-old recently finished a stint in Iran – the latest stop in a fascinating career which has also taken in Spain, Türkiye, Russia and Greece as well as England along the way.

Speaking to Portuguese newspaper Maisfutebol, Fernandes talked about his plans for what he expects to be the final season of his career. More intriguingly, the 15-time Seleção international reflected on an eventful journey in football, which began with a club for which he still holds great affection: Benfica.

“The club of my life”

Having risen through the academy at Seixal, Fernandes made his Portugal debut in 2005 as a teenager, with his performances in helping Giovanni Trapattoni’s Benfica win the Primeira Liga fast-tracking him into the Seleção set-up. His reputation in football was growing rapidly and José Mourinho reportedly became a big fan, leading to speculation of a move to Chelsea.

“It’s [the club of my life] Benfica,” he tells Maisfutebol. “Not just because I went there very young, but because it was the club that helped me to make the career I did. 

“When I say helped I mean things like being concerned that I had good grades at school, teaching me that if I didn’t do well in school I wouldn’t be drafted, for example. Things like that, where there was a concern to help me grow and create a foundation for the rest of my playing career.

“It gave me a lot of bases to build on. I was also very lucky to have many former Benfica players as coaches, who passed on to me the values ​​of Benfica and friendship. It gives me pleasure today to go to Estádio da Luz and be able to talk to those former coaches, now in a different way, but knowing what helped me in other times.”

Those trips back to where it all began are becoming increasingly common. Fernandes reveals he visited the stadium several times last season to watch the Eagles, regaining the connection with a club where he spent over a decade of his formative years, before leaving abruptly for Portsmouth in what at the time was a controversial third-party ownership deal.

“This year I went many times,” he says. “I hadn’t been there for a long time, but this year, whenever I was in Portugal and there was a home game, I always went to the stadium. At first, I didn’t go because I didn’t leave Benfica in the best way, for both parties. That’s why I always felt that it wasn’t the right time to even go see a game and so I stayed away for a long time. And when I say a long time I mean a decade, probably.

“How are the fans with me? Good. The conversation is always the same, which is that I shouldn’t have left so soon. It’s always that theme, but in general I honestly don’t remember any negative incidents. Maybe there was one or two people who wanted to tell me something, but didn’t. This season I went four or five times and the vibe is always the same, which is flattering in a way, because I played three years in the first team and that was 20 years ago. It’s a sign that I did something right.”

Could it have been Sporting?

Fernandes is a childhood friend of Portugal legend Nani, who made his first steps in football around a similar time across Lisbon at rivals Sporting. Asked to confirm that he nearly joined his friend at Alvalade, Fernandes reveals had things been different he could have worn the green and white of Sporting.

“Yes, I was very young. I was at Futebol Benfica, the famous Fofó, I went to train at Sporting for two months, but at the time there was the question of the yellow and blue Identity Cards.

“[To explain] my mother is Cape Verdean and in 1986 there was a law that children of foreigners had the nationality of their parents. For that reason, and even though I was born in Portugal, I didn’t have Portuguese nationality, so I had that blue Identity card. 

“At the time, in the youth teams, clubs could have two foreigners, and only one could play. Sporting already had a foreigner, who was a year older than me, so I was going to play very little and I decided to leave. It was at that time that they took me to Benfica and my story began there.”

Trap’s title winners

Instead, Fernandes’ ascent at Benfica was hugely successful he became the club’s second-youngest ever goalscorer shortly after his 18^th birthday, scoring in a 2-1 victory at Gil Vicente under Jose Antonio Camacho. A year later, under Giovanni Trapattoni, Fernandes helped Benfica lift the Portuguese title, making 43 appearances in all competitions.

“It was a good season [with Trapattoni] yes. We didn’t have the best squad, which was FC Porto; we didn’t play the best football, because that was Sporting under Peseiro. However, with some merit and some luck we managed to win the championship. We didn’t even reach 70 points, this year Benfica won with 87 and FC Porto came second with 85. That reveals a bit of how that championship was.

“We can’t take much credit for that team. Benfica was trying to find itself again. There was no training pitch, there was no training centre and we trained in a different place every day. I even got to look around a bit before I last left and I’m very happy to see what was done, because Benfica today has a very good structure. It has the organisation that a big team always needs to have.”

17 years have passed since Fernandes’ departure Benfica for Portsmouth. The move came during a period in which third-party ownership arrangements also saw the surprise placement of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano at West Ham, with the Argentines soon moving on to Manchester United and Liverpool respectively. Fernandes has since revealed that decisions over his future being taken out of his hands had an adverse effect on his mental health.

Fernandes quickly found himself moved on to Everton (for the first of two stints at Goodison Park) before he headed to Spain with Valencia. A successful spell at Turkish giants Besiktas followed, before a six-year stay in Russia, where he won the Premier League title and three Russian Cups with Lokomotiv Moscow. A return to Türkiye at Kayserispor and a brief stint with Greeks Apollon Smyrnis preceded the latest venture in Iran at Sephan.

Adaptation to different countries has come easily for Fernandes, an intelligent man who has now mastered several languages, including a strong proficiency in Russian and excellent English. Asked by Maisfutebol what type of man is to be found all those years after leaving Lisbon, Fernandes admits he has inevitably been shaped as a person while abroad.

“It’s a guy with a lot of experience, not only in terms of football, but also with more experience in life. Most of my career was spent abroad, I had the opportunity to play in several countries, different cultures, and if I had to evaluate myself at this stage of my career, I would highlight the experience. I think that’s the part where I feel the difference the most.

“Lots of experiences, some better than others, naturally, but all of them important experiences to understand myself, to understand the kind of person I am and how I should deal with certain situations. I learned I am a resilient person and mentally very strong. 

“Fortunately, I had more good situations than less good ones, but the less good situations forced me to have enormous mental strength. At the time when they started to happen, I didn’t know if I had that mental strength and in the end, I realised I did and I managed to overcome them and move on.

“In my second season as Lokomotiv I had a disagreement with the president and I barely played. It was the year we beat Jorge Jesus’ Sporting in the Europa League and I only really played in European competition. I ended up being left out for two months.

“But a year and a half later I regained my place, became Russian champion, won the cup and got back in the national team. That could only be done if I managed to keep myself mentally strong and not allow myself to drop my arms. What was going on was something I couldn’t control, the only thing I could control was my training and the ability to stay in shape. That’s what I did, because I didn’t want to make the mistake of complaining and then not being able to respond if I was given an opportunity.”

“I could have done more” with Seleção

Fernandes mentions his brief recall to the national team under Fernando Santos in 2017 after a five-year absence. However, with just 15 caps to his name, his career with the Seleção is one he admits underwhelmed, particularly in comparison to some of his teenage peers.

“I can’t say it’s a positive assessment, because I was called up before Nani and Moutinho, for example, but the two of them together have two hundred or so international caps,” Fernandes concedes. “They are some of the most capped ever and with great merit. I got 15 and I know I could have done a lot more, no doubt. I’m still the most capped under-21 ever.

“What went wrong? It was several things. Firstly competition, because when I started in the national team there was Deco, Maniche, Costinha, Petit, Tiago – in short, players of great quality. The inconsistency at Valencia didn’t help either. I didn’t play regularly and had to compete with players who played every weekend at their clubs. And, finally, the relationship with Paulo Bento probably also meant that I went a long time not being called up.

“I was called up for the first time by Scolari, for a game against Ireland, in which I even think I replaced Ronaldo. Then I continue to be called with Carlos Queiroz, I was still called at the beginning of Paulo Bento. One or two things happened [under him] I didn’t like and I started to think it wasn’t worth going. So, then I went five years without a call until I made my return with Fernando Santos.

“Being too honest hurt me? In the field of football, people say that people like directness and all that, but from my point of view, that is a lie. This is not to excuse certain situations, because I made mistakes at the drop of a hat, but it is much easier to be politically correct. I have no doubt that my personality or character in certain situations has harmed me.”

So how does Fernandes assess his career overall? The fact he still plays is testament to his love of a game which has rewarded him financially and seen him grow into maturity in a variety of countries. But does the sense of under-achievement affect the way he looks back over a career totalling more than 500 appearances?

“My assessment is positive,” he says. “Only positive. Firstly, because I was able to enjoy what I was doing in most of the clubs I went to and they paid me for it. I can’t complain. Do I think I could have done more? Clearly. I think I could have reached another level, maybe in other types of clubs, but at the end of the day they were decisions. 

“I feel comfortable with what I did, I believe I took the options I thought were the best and I have no regrets whatsoever. Of course, I think I could have done better, but I always think that: if I’m going to play marbles and lose, I’ll think I could have done better. Overall, I think it’s been a positive career and there’s not much I can complain about.”

One last stop to ‘withdraw from football’

A career which Fernandes believes has one more season left. And after spending his adult life oversees, now feels the right moment for the Amadora-native to return home. And while the dream of his boyhood club remains, Fernandes is realistic when it comes to his final destination in football.

“I have no intentions of continuing in Iran. I’m not going to say that the experience was bad, because it wasn’t. But now I want something closer to home and a championship that is a little more professional. I’m open. This is probably the phase where I’m most open to everything.

“The end of my career is very close, it’s really very close. I believe that if I don’t find anything that says it’s worthwhile, I may have to consider quitting. But the intention is clearly to play one more season and finish. I would like it not to be football withdrawing from me, but me withdrawing from football. This would be the idea.

“Honestly, the ideal would be to end up at Benfica, but it’s something that for several reasons would never be feasible, let alone at this point. So, I can’t give a concrete answer. I know that Portugal is a selling country and normally hiring is done with a view of doing business. I’m 37 years old and that perspective doesn’t exist, but I can obviously give other things: experience, for example. I can be a mentor to younger people. 

“I’m 37 years old and, realistically, the first division in Portugal is tough. To play in Portugal it would have to be something like a second division. It’s not that I have a problem with that, but above all it would depend on the team itself and the way of playing.”

And when he does finally hang up his boots, Fernandes does not appear fixed on the notion of staying in football. Family will come first, after which Fernandes is seemingly set to turn his attention to another challenge away from the pitch.

“I’ll go back to studying, business management. The first thing I want to do when I stop playing is go back to school and after that enjoy family time. I’ve been away for so long and the family has always been here in Portugal. I want to enjoy the time. Then I see what I want to learn more about, but the first objective is to go back to studying.

“Staying connected to football? No, no, no. I’m not keen at this stage to stay in football. Maybe in the future I could change my mind, but at this point it’s not in my plans.”

By Sean Gillen

@SeanGillen9