Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes appears to have 'liked' a post on Instagram that says "never push a loyal person to the point where they no longer care".

Fernandes was dropped and left on the bench for the club's 3-0 defeat against Bournemouth, just days after he criticised Michael Carrick's tactics following their Champions League loss to Como.

The Portuguese midfielder, who has scored four goals in 11 appearances this season, claimed it was “a decision from the staff to not press man-to-man" against Cesc Fabregas' side.

Ahead of Sunday's kick-off, Carrick insisted his captain was dropped for "pure football" reasons, but the decision remains a big talking point, especially after he was an unused substitute.

Fans notice Bruno Fernandes has 'liked' telling Instagram post

On Monday morning, Manchester Evening News reporter Steven Railston shared a screenshot appearing to show Fernandes had 'liked' an Instagram post featuring the quote: "Never push a loyal person to the point where they no longer care."

Alongside the picture, Railston wrote: "What has got into Bruno Fernandes? He’s so much better than liking silly reels on Instagram like a moody teenager."

He added: "Completely understandable that he’s frustrated, and probably sick to his back teeth after giving his best years to a football club on the slide, but he let down Michael Carrick and is now doing an impression of Garnacho on social media."

The post from Wealth's Instagram page also included a lengthy caption that read: "The person holding everything together is usually the one nobody thinks to check on.

"Every family, friend group, and team has one. The one who shows up no matter what. The one who listens, fixes, covers, and carries more than anyone realizes. They don’t complain about it. They just keep holding things up because that’s who they are.

"But loyal people get taken for granted faster than anyone. Their effort starts to feel automatic, and their patience gets mistaken for weakness. People push, take, and test them, assuming they’ll always stay.⠀

"Until one day, they don’t. There’s no big fight or dramatic exit. They just quietly stop caring, stop trying, and let go. And everything they were holding up comes crashing down with them."

The post added: "Most people never realise how much weight someone was carrying until the day they finally let it fall."

Michael Carrick offered a further insight into his decision to drop Fernandes after United's 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth.

"He's fit and available but we decided to pick the team that we did today," said Carrick, who looks to be on the verge of an Old Trafford exit. "Unfortunately for everyone we didn't manage to get the right result.

"We want to push forward and create more, we could've done certain things but not enough really and that's pretty clear."