Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Gelson Fernandes says that he wanted to remain in the Premier League in 2009, but Manchester City refused to sell him to an English rival.
Fernandes appeared 43 times for City and admitted he enjoyed his time with the club despite feeling frustrated that he couldn’t spend more time in the Premier League.
The Swiss international found himself in an impossible position in City’s midfield when the Abu Dhabi based investment group took over the club in 2008. With the billions came world-class players and Fernandes had to jockey for position with the likes of Yaya Toure and Patrick Viera – the writing was on the wall.
“I will never forget my time there,” the 32-year-old told Goal. “I didn’t want to leave the Premier League, but with Nigel de Jong, Patrick Vieira and Yaya Toure, Manchester City signed three new players for my position.
“There was no room for me there and a transfer within England wasn’t an option because City didn’t want to give me to a competitor. That’s how I ended up in Ligue 1 with Saint-Etienne.”
Fernandes is not looking back in anger though, and values the opportunity to play with great players during his time in east Manchester, reserving special praise for Dietmar Hamann.
“I got to know many great personalities and top athletes during my time at Man City,” he said. “Didi Hamann influenced me a lot.
“He was an incredibly clever player, had personality, charisma and was a real leader. He was also very important to me personally because he gave me a lot of tips that helped me a lot in the course of my career.”
Since leaving the Etihad in 2009 the Swiss midfielder has played for eight different clubs – including a brief return to England with Leicester City in 2012 – before ending up with Frankfurt in 2017.
Frankfurt currently sit seventh in the Bundesliga, three points behind Werder in fourth place.
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