At the best of times, releasing your captain and most creative player is less than ideal. At the worst of times, it’s unthinkable. Yet that is a real possibility for Manchester United and Bruno Fernandes this offseason.

Saudi Pro League goliath Al-Hilal is reportedly after Fernandes. In talks with his agent, Miguel Pinho, it’s offering United around €119 million ($135 million) and a multiplied salary for the midfielder. Fernandes, who’s been at Old Trafford since 2020, chalked up 19 goals and 20 assists in all competitions during a wretched 2024/25 campaign for the Red Devils.

After he and his teammates lost the Europa League final against Tottenham Hotspur on May 21, Fernandes, seemingly reluctant but open to leaving, said, “I have always been honest, if the club thinks it’s time to part ways because they want to do some cashing in or whatever, it’s what it is. Football (soccer) is sometimes like this.” Currently, the noise is Fernandes seriously considering an exit.

At first glance, it doesn’t look good for United. We naturally think a wizard departing a misfiring team makes everything worse. The reality is the club, in a disorderly financial predicament, needs to make wholesale squad changes to compete next term. Letting go of a 30-year-old asset for double the money spent on him five years ago while reducing the wage bill at least paves the way for reinvestment across the squad.

From a financial standpoint, United’s forte is generating money. Indeed, its operating income is enviable despite losing regularly on the field and missing out on results bonuses; the brand remains strong, leading to sponsorship interest and making a killing from vending masses of match tickets and merchandise, for instance. That travels some distance to explain its second position on Forbes’ most valuable soccer teams list for 2025.

On the other hand, you can only live off the brand for so long. United hasn’t dined at the top table for over a decade, and it won’t soak up the revenues of any European soccer, let alone Champions League soccer, next season following a 16th-place signoff in the Premier League and failure to win a trophy. Huge gross debt looms, estimated at comfortably over €1 billion ($1.13 billion)—factoring money due from previous signings on top of long-standing majority owner the Glazer family’s outstanding repayments.

Here, instead of measures like the widely condemned mass layoffs at the club (United has/had the most staff but paid the third-lowest wages to revenue ratio, as soccer finance expert Kieran Maguire pointed out) to save a few dollars, the INEOS operation can prioritize giving the lineup a makeover with some of the earnings from Fernandes and any other figures worth offloading. Whilst grappling with structural issues, United requires a youthful, hungry, preferably cheaper profile of star ready for the next step.

Saying goodbye to a chess piece like Fernandes represents a blow yet may prove a sensible diversion from the side’s reckless transfer policy over recent years. Although nothing will immediately lift the Manchester United mist, things can’t stay the same for head coach Ruben Amorim and his crew. As the Premier League side tries to get its house in order, the Portugal international would be a statement coup for Club World Cup participant Al-Hilal, plus Saudi Arabia’s bankrolled Pro League project.

Any deal could be remembered as a watershed moment in the future.