Ranking every Bruno Fernandes assist in 2025-26 after ‘so-called playmaker’ criticism | OneFootball

Bruno Fernandes is a shoo-in for the Premier League playmaker award having already broken Manchester United’s assists record…

The Red Devils skipper has 16 assists this season, double the number of anyone else in the Premier League.

Two more on Sunday against Aston Villa saw the skipper equal and then break David Beckham’s record from 1999-2000.

He needs just five more in the remaining eight games to take the Premier League record, currently shared between Kevin De Bruyne and Thierry Henry.

That’s not enough for some people, like Paul Parker, who branded the ‘so-called playmaker’ a ‘brainless liability’ this week. Are you ok, Paul?

Anyway, we rate Fernandes rather higher. Indeed, we’ve ranked his many assists this season, from the tap of a dead-ball, to an added-time moment of genius…

16) Crystal Palace (a)

On the face of it, Fernandes just toe-pokes a dead ball a couple of yards for Mason Mount to strike through the crumbliest of walls.

Has he seen something in Palace’s previous set-ups or preparation for this free-kick? Perhaps. But in terms of execution, it is certainly his simplest assist.

15) Bournemouth (h)

The first of three corner kicks, all in-swingers from the left, hung up to the far post. United fill the front half of the goal for Casemiro, on this occasion, to wander in at the back post and nod an easily-saveable header at Djordje Petrovic, who gifts the Brazilian a goal and Bruno an assist.

14) Nottingham Forest (a)

The same delivery as Bournemouth onto the same head, this time, United loading up the far post. Only above the Bournemouth assist on account of all the boiled p*ss in prompted at the City Ground.

13) Fulham (h)

A free-kick just to the side of the Fulham box on the by-line, hung up for Casemiro to attack. Looked simple – because it was – but the position might have tempted some to complicate matters. Instead, had Casemiro not headed in Fernandes’s dink, Harry Maguire would have.

12) Newcastle (a)

Set-piece again, a free-kick near the right corner of the Toon box, delivered flat and quick into the path of Casemiro, this time attacking the near post, making up for conceding a penalty moments before for which Paul Parker may never forgive him.

11) Aston Villa (h)

The same routine as Newcastle above, only this time from a corner, with Casemiro darting across the near post to glance home Fernandes’s flatter delivery. Some header, that.

10) Tottenham Hotspur (a)

A similar corner-kick to the others, this time on to Matthijs De Ligt’s head, but ranked higher because it came in added-time, just after Spurs had gone in front.

If the delivery wasn’t perfect, United would have lost and Spurs would have gone third and, buoyed by a late win, Thomas Frank’s side almost certainly would have gone on a run to mount a title challenge.

9) Arsenal (a)

Some might begrudge Fernandes taking any credit here since this goal is all about Patrick Dorgu’s finish, but the winger is only in a position to rattle in off the bar after Fernandes’s intricate build-up.

After lending it to Dorgu, his first touch digs out the return pass before getting his knee over it for the assisting pass.

8) Crystal Palace (a)

Another set-piece, this one a free-kick from the left touchline.

Some ingenuity here, though, since rather than hang it up for a big man, Fernandes drops it down the near side of Palace’s defensive line for Joshua Zirkzee.

Hardly put on a plate and Zirkzee did extremely well to turn and smash home an equaliser, but only because Fernandes sees something few others does.

7) Wolves (a)

Picking up possession in a pocket 30 yards out, to the right of the box with all but one outfield opponent between him and the Wolves goal, Fernandes spots Mount’s run from deep and drops a perfect chip that on to the midfielder’s instep.

6) Liverpool (a)

Fernandes’ assist tally is all the more remarkable since his first doesn’t come until two months into the season.

Worth the wait, though, since his perfectly-weighted volleyed pass tees up Maguire the winner at Anfield.

Many in Fernandes’ position would control the ball instead, and either cross while giving Liverpool’s defensive line chance to reset, or pass backwards.

5) Crystal Palace (h)

With Beckham’s record coming into view at the end of February, while United are floundering at home to 10-man Palace, Fernandes delivers a Beckham-esque cross from deep on the right, the like of which Sesko had been starved of under Amorim.

4) Burnley (a)

Finally, after half a season at the base of Ruben Amorim’s midfield, the manager is gone and replaced by one of the 8 billion people who can see he’s being wasted in a deeper role.

Further forward, 30 yards from goal, Fernandes slides a precisely-weighted pass that begs Sesko to score, taking two Burnley players out of the game en route.

3) Aston Villa (h)

Having just conceded an equaliser to cancel out an opener from Fernandes’ first assist, he drops deep on the left to claim the United record with a ‘great pass’, as Gary Neville immediately called it, splitting Villa’s left-back and centre-back to put Matheus Cunha through one-on-one.

2) Manchester City (h)

The detail here is not in the pass, perfect though it was, but the touch before it.

Carrying the ball forward, United on the break against a retreating City defensive line, Fernandes nudges it right to shift Abdukodir Khusanov’s weight to his left, creating enough separation between the defender and Bryan Mbeumo and a channel for the pass.

1) Fulham (h)

The best for both execution and timing.

United have just conceded a late leveller to the Cottagers in Carrick’s third game in charge, the momentum built after wins over City and Arsenal evaporating.

Fernandes, with little time for turnovers, shows for a pass on the inside left and rather than play it safe, lets the ball run through him, bamboozling Calvin Bassey.

Once in behind, some would just flash it across goal and pray, but Fernandes sees the Fulham backline dropping off so, instead, pulls it behind them into Sesko, who takes a touch and smashes home an added-time winner at the Stretford End.