“What he has done for the club, it has been great, and we are thankful, but now it is time to move forward. We have a lot of big personalities, players with a lot of quality in all the different positions and now we are ready to go.”

Xabi Alonso · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-05

Alonso expressed gratitude for Fernandez's contributions and said it is time to move forward.