The club captain had a lucrative offer to move to the Saudi Pro League at the time, with United willing to sell.
"I stayed because I thought I still had something that I can give back to the club," Fernandes said on the Wayne Rooney show podcast.
"Obviously the Saudi situation, with the money... there was a lot. The good thing I have in my family is that my wife is pretty down to earth like me.
"We're very aware that we don't want to be the richest person in the world. We just want to be the ones that have achieved the dreams they had and live a good life with their kids and trying to be as successful as possible.
"The words of my wife were like, 'have you achieved your dreams? Have you achieved everything you wanted?'
"And that small thing she said made me understand that she's on the same page as me. Let's keep trying and see where this takes me."