Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has not come near profitable the Premier League or Champions League since becoming a member of the membership in 2020.
He did carry a few home cups underneath Erik ten Hag – and if United end third this season, it will likely be a place they’ve solely bettered as soon as throughout Fernandes’ time at Previous Trafford.
But it surely represents a meagre return for a participant many argue is United’s greatest signing since legendary supervisor Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, and somebody, they argue, who deserves a spot among the many membership’s greatest within the Premier League period.
On Friday, he was named the Soccer Writers’ Affiliation’s footballer of the yr. However Fernandes shouldn’t be one for coveting particular person awards.
When he spoke to the media in October, he stated: “I do not see it that one participant is healthier than one other as a result of he wins extra trophies. Not each time one of the best participant on this planet is the one which wins the Ballon d’Or.
“I need to win trophies. I need to be recognised by the various good issues I did for the membership, for bringing one thing again to the membership, not simply my particular person numbers.”
United is not going to win a trophy this season, however there are nonetheless a few important milestones forward of Fernandes.
He wants only one extra help to equal the person Premier League file of 20 in a single marketing campaign – collectively held by Arsenal nice Thierry Henry and former Manchester Metropolis star Kevin de Bruyne.
Fernandes is eight away from Manchester Metropolis’s Rayan Cherki within the Premier League’s assists chart this season, with West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen third with 10 assists.
Beating the file clearly means lots to Fernandes, who shall be a key a part of Portugal’s World Cup squad this summer time. A lot so, one among his United team-mates informed him he felt Fernandes would beforehand have taken a shot in opposition to Brentford just lately, somewhat than arrange striker Benjamin Sesko. Fernandes rejected that notion.
Fernandes can be favorite to win the distinguished PFA Gamers’ Participant of the Yr award, which Henry and De Bruyne each took twice.
Regardless of the shortage of main trophies, would the help file and one other participant of the yr award affirm his standing as some of the artistic forces of the Premier League period?
