Bruno Fernandes has admitted it was tough to hear Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe publicly describe some players in the squad as "overpaid" and "not good enough".
Ratcliffe was surprisingly transparent in a recent round of media appearances and did not hide his disappointment towards the current make-up of the United squad, venting his frustration towards upcoming payments for players like Antony, Casemiro, Jadon Sancho, Rasmus Hojlund and Andre Onana.
There can be no questioning the value of Fernandes, whose hat-trick inspired a 4-1 win over Real Sociedad on Thursday and took his individual tally for the season to 15 goals and 13 assists in all competitions.
After the game, Fernandes took the opportunity to offer a disappointed response to Ratcliffe's criticism.
"We can't relax at this club," he began. "You know that there's a big standard, a big attention that you get from the media, from everywhere.
"It's not nice to hear certain things obviously. I don't think that any player likes to hear criticism or things that are talked about to you, that you're not good enough or you're overpaid or whatever.
"Everyone has their own contract. The club agrees to do the contracts at the time you come here or at the time you do a new contract or whatever and it's about yourself proving that you can be important for the club."
Head coach Amorim urged his United squad to use Ratcliffe's comments as fuel to improve, and he will have been delighted with the results on Thursday as an emphatic victory over La Real saw the Red Devils advance to the Europa League quarter-finals.
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