Roy Keane has revealed that he and Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes resolved their recent public dispute during a phone call the pair described as a "lovely" and "mature" conversation.

The falling-out stemmed from an episode of The Overlap podcast last month, during which Keane claimed Fernandes had stated in an interview that he had chosen to pass rather than shoot while chasing the Premier League assist record. Fernandes later appeared on The Diary of a CEO podcast, where he accused Keane of telling a "lie" and said the Sky Sports pundit had misrepresented his actual comments — which were, in fact, the opposite of what Keane described.

A mature conversation

Speaking on Wednesday's Stick to Football podcast, Keane explained that Fernandes had reached out and requested a chat, which Keane was happy to oblige.

"There was a reaction after what we said on the podcast a few weeks ago and he reached out to me and wanted a chat," Keane said. "I called him and we had a lovely chat. A lovely chat about a bit of everything. We had a nice, mature conversation."

Keane also made light of the episode, joking: "He apologised, I forgave him, no problem" — before clarifying that it was, in fact, a constructive exchange.

"I like having boundaries with players," Keane added. "I don't want to be speaking to players every few weeks or their agents, I don't want to go down that road — but every now and then a player might reach out, so it was important I spoke to him. I felt better afterwards."

Fernandes's record-breaking season

The reconciliation comes at the end of a landmark campaign for Fernandes, who broke the Premier League all-time assist record this season, surpassing the previous mark of 20 set jointly by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.

United eye Mateus Fernandes as Ederson deal confirmed

Off the pitch, Manchester United are exploring a move for West Ham midfielder Mateus Fernandes. Sky Sports News understands West Ham value the Portuguese midfielder at around £80 million and have no urgency to sell — having signed him for an initial fee of £38 million last summer. United view the deal as realistic following West Ham's relegation, with midfield reinforcement a clear priority this transfer window.

United have already confirmed the signing of Atalanta midfielder Ederson in a separate deal worth £38 million.