Signs of a sad ending at Old Trafford: does Fernandes regret rejecting Al-Hilal?
A costly loyalty and an uncertain future!
Bruno Fernandes has spent almost seven years at Manchester United as the club's star man. Now he faces a defining moment, one that could end his era as the team's playmaker and figurehead.
A flat display against Leeds laid bare his statistical decline. With his favoured number 10 role no longer guaranteed, the signs are mounting that Fernandes may be entering a transitional phase of his career with the Red Devils.
A notable decline
Writing for the "Daily Mail", Chris Wheeler asks whether the time has come for Bruno Fernandes to relinquish his role as Manchester United's "number one man".
His display against Leeds United was a season in miniature. Opposition fans turned on him with harsh, hostile chants after a violent challenge on Tarik Mehremovic earned him an early yellow card.
Fernandes has barely made a mark in most of United's 10 matches this season. His four goals and his single decisive assist all arrived in the team's only two wins, against Ipswich Town and Azerbaijani side "Sabah" in the Champions League at Old Trafford, among the easiest fixtures on the schedule.
Compare that to the campaign in which he swept the Player of the Year awards from the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) and the Football Writers' Association (FWA). Back then he scored 9 goals and provided 21 assists, a Premier League record. His level has dropped noticeably since.
Tactical shift: Carrick moves Fernandes away from his preferred position
Michael Carrick's tactical tweak tells the same story. The coach was forced to move Fernandez out of the playmaker role, the number 10 slot he had owned for years.
Against Atletico Madrid in midweek, Fernandez played on the right wing, freeing Youri Tielemans to push forward into the number 10 role. Tielemans did enough to keep the job against Leeds. Fernandez started on the left and swapped positions with Bryan Mbeumo up front.
Tielemans deserves to keep his place against Como in the Champions League, according to the report. Cunha is the other candidate for the number 10 berth, though he has had to adapt around Fernandez.
Carrick insists Fernandez remains "an important part of the team". Even so, the noise around him keeps building.
Costly loyalty: will he regret rejecting Al-Hilal?
United's management were open to selling Bruno Fernandes last year when Saudi club Al-Hilal came in with an offer of 100 million pounds, plus a vast fortune for the player himself.
Galatasaray tried their luck this season, offering to double his salary. Fernandes preferred to stay. It was a show of loyalty to a club no closer to challenging for the Premier League title than it was when he arrived from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020.
Contract on the verge of ending: an uncertain future
It would be a shame, the writer argued, if Fernandes's Old Trafford haul ended at just the FA Cup and the League Cup. That, he warned, might be the lot.
He continued: "With Bruno Fernandes's contract (32 years old) nearing its end at the close of this coming June, and with the club holding an option to extend it for a further 12 months, talks over a new contract have begun, but there are no signs of a deal being reached soon, which raises the question: given his current level, will Manchester United really want to renew his contract?"
"In a summer that saw United part ways with Casemiro but fail to find a buyer for Marcus Rashford," he added, "would it have been better to get rid of the other player (Bruno) on a high salary, especially with the arrival of Tielemans? Time will reveal the truth."
His conclusion: "Fernandes's rich record shows that his dip in form is temporary, and it will not be long before he proves the doubters wrong. Tielemans's command of the playmaker role will not last long, and Fernandes will soon return to pull the strings as he always does. But the longer this situation persists, the sharper the questions become, and the greater the number of people wondering whether one of the few great careers at Manchester United in the post-Ferguson era is nearing its end."
