The Saudi Pro League club were willing to pay £100m for Fernandes last summer, but the midfielder eventually turned them down.
Fernandes stated: "I had the conversations with Al-Hilal. Everyone is aware of that. Everyone knows that. There were also other clubs that tried after Al-Hilal, but obviously my answer wouldn't change.
"From Europe, I had some people talking to me, but we never got into the place where we would be offering on the table or not. Because it's all very nice and people want you, but then they need to put the money on the table for the club. If not, the club won't allow me to go.
"Obviously, I think the concrete one was from Saudi. To be honest, I didn't need to leave the club at the moment. I spoke with the manager, not only to Saudi, but also that's why I think with European clubs we didn't get into a point of... Because I didn't show very interest to go somewhere.
"So they a little bit felt that and they said, like, we'll be wasting our time and then it will say no in a month's time or two weeks' time. So the manager spoke with me. He said I was still part of the project."