Bruno Fernandes was a revelation when he signed for Manchester United from Sporting in January of 2020. After a few great seasons in Portugal, he took the step up to join the red devils and be a part of their rebuild.
In his first half-season, he lit up the premier league with 8 goals and 7 assists in just 14 appearances: immediately becoming a new hero for United fans everywhere. He followed up with an impressive 18 goals and 12 assists in 37 appearances in the next season, but has failed to reach such numbers since.
Fernandes is supposed to be Manchester United’s star man. The catalyst for the team’s revival, and the key figure to build the team around as they look to become premier league greats once again. So what exactly is going wrong, for both him and the club?
When things started going poorly for Manchester United, it became pretty clear that Fernandes has an attitude problem. When things don’t go his way, or at least the way he thinks things should have gone, he is the first to complain – whether it be to the referee, the manager, or even his teammates.
Aside from this, he has developed a number of other bad habits. He very often dives, and on occasion lashes out at other players when he loses his temper. This leads to him receiving a lot of criticism from fans and the media, and has created a perception of him being childish and immature.
In March of 2023, the red devils fierce rivals, Liverpool, absolutely thrashed them 7-0. After Liverpool scored the fifth goal 75 minutes in, Fernandes appeared to be incredibly frustrated and asked to be substituted – despite holding the captaincy in the absence of club captain Harry Maguire.
This made Erik Ten Hag’s decision to appoint him as club captain in July of 2023 absolutely baffling – his constant moaning and complaining, combined with his poor temperament and attitude make him an awful candidate to lead the squad.
But of course, there are two sides to every coin. We mustn’t forget Bruno’s quality. He has proven on many occasions to be an extremely talented and game changing player; popping up with hugely important goals and assists, as well as getting stuck in with the gritty elements of the game that aren’t appreciated nearly as much.
Regardless, he still struggles to control matches at the best of times – and for the most part, is massively inconsistent. His decision making can be extremely poor, too. Whether it be deciding to shoot or pass, or simply the timing and destination of his shots/passes.
This leads us to the current day. United currently sit 12th in the premier league table, with just 2 wins from their first 6 matches. Only newly promoted Southampton have scored less goals than them so far – and their form outside of the premier league doesn’t get much better.
Fernandes was sent off in Manchester United’s last match: an embarrassing 3-0 defeat at home to Tottenham. There is much debate about whether it should have been a red card or not: as Fernandes did slip into the challenge. Slip or no slip, he still raised his foot to knee height in an attempt to stop Tottenham midfielder James Maddison.
For a player who is supposedly so good and so important for Manchester United, as well as their club captain – questions seriously need to be asked of his maturity, decision making, and leadership. Is the 30 year-old the right man to lead Manchester United forward?
With plenty of investment and no real signs of improvement in the last half-decade, it remains to be seen. But only time will tell.
Leave a Reply