The row began in May when Keane, speaking on The Overlap podcast, claimed that Fernandes had said "I probably should have shot but I made them passes" in a post-match interview following United's 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest — a remark he framed as evidence of a player prioritising individual statistics over team success.
Fernandes pushed back hard, pointing out that his actual words were the opposite: "There were probably moments today when I should have passed instead of shot."
He accused Keane of telling a "lie" and said publicly that he wanted to meet the pundit to discuss it.
Keane then responded with a social media post — an image of a donkey captioned: "Too much attention makes a donkey think he's a lion."
The escalation attracted widespread attention across the football world, but the two men reached a private resolution after Fernandes made the first move.
Revealing the conversation on Wednesday's Stick to Football podcast, Keane described what happened.
"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. I called him and we had a lovely chat."
He continued: "It was nice because when we do podcasts or games, sometimes you think you say something afterwards and you communicate something and it doesn't come across properly, so people get upset and he said he wanted to talk to me. We had a nice, mature conversation."
Keane was candid about why he felt the conversation mattered.
"I like having boundaries with players. 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 I think it was important I spoke to him."
He also joked about the resolution: "He apologised, I forgave him, no problem."
The backdrop to the dispute was Fernandes's historic 2025-26 season. The Portuguese midfielder registered 21 assists in 35 Premier League appearances, setting a new record for assists in a single season and helping Manchester United to a third-place finish and a return to Champions League football.
His record-breaking assist came on the final day of the season against Brighton, when his corner was headed home by Patrick Dorgu. That the closing act of a record-breaking campaign then generated a public argument with the club's most celebrated former captain made for an extraordinary subplot.
Both men appear to have closed the chapter. Fernandes is now focused on the World Cup with Portugal.