Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes’s X account has been hacked, the club said, after a post on Sunday was critical of the club’s co-owners.
A message appeared on Fernandes’s social media account, which has more than 4.5m followers, that read: “let’s get rid of INEOS”.
Ineos, the global chemical company, is owned by British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is the minority owner of United and in charge of football operations.
The post, viewed more than 84,000 times, has since been removed, but the club’s official X account confirmed Fernandes’ account had been hacked and urged supporters to “not engage with any of the posts or direct messages”.
It was one of several messages to appear on the 31-year-old Portugal international’s profile and came just a few hours after United were eliminated from the FA Cup on Sunday following a third round defeat to fellow Premier League side Brighton at Old Trafford.
Brajan Gruda and former Red Devil Danny Welbeck scored for the visitors in a 2-1 victory as United’s winless run in all competitions was extended to four matches.
Benjamin Sesko halved the deficit for the hosts late on before 18-year-old academy graduate Shea Lacey was sent off for two bookings in quick succession.
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Former United midfielder Darren Fletcher, who is the club’s current under-18s head coach, once again took charge of the first team following the sacking of manager Ruben Amorim on 5 January.
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Interim boss Fletcher oversaw the team’s 2-2 draw with Burnley on Wednesday, two days after United parted ways with Amorim after 14 months in charge.
However, the defeat to Brighton could well prove to be Fletcher’s final match before an appointment is made for the rest of the season, with two other ex-players, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick, the frontrunners to take the role.
