5 crazy stats that show why Bruno Fernandes is a worthy Player of the Year | OneFootball

Bruno Fernandes has been named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year for the first time in his career and it is a choice that can hardly be argued.

Fernandes’ win marks the first time since 2019 that the recipient has come from a team that did not life the title, but in the Manchester United’s playmaker’s case, his performances outweighed any single player from the Arsenal squad.

Here are five stats that prove Fernandes is a worthy winner of this year’s award.

Most assists in a Premier League season

The obvious one to start with is the most publicised one – his assist record.

Fernandes set a new tally of 21 assists in a single Premier League season, one better than Kevin De Bruyne of 2019-20 and Thierry Henry of 2002-03.

And it’s worth noting just how high a number that is. Since the Premier League started handing out the Playmaker of the Season award in 2018, only five players have registered 15 assists in a Premier League season. From 2006 to 2007, 12 would have been enough to win the award.

And while De Bruyne had Sergio Aguero and Henry had Robert Pires to aim at, the quality of player in front of Fernandes has been notably worse.

Most chances created. By far

Fernandes may have set up 21 goals but he created far more chances.

The Portuguese playmaker registered almost double the chances created by any Premier League player last season with Dominik Szoboszlai’s 78 the closest to Fernandes’ 136.

For context, Szoboszlai was creating 2.2 chances per 90 minutes while Fernandes was up at 4 in the same timespan.

Second in G+A behind only Erling Haaland

Fernandes was not only about creating goals either and managed to get nine for himself.

That puts him at 30 G+A in the season with only Erling Haaland ahead at 35 (his goal-to-assist ratio was at 27 to eight).

But those two are in a practical league of their own. Igor Thiago is next on 23 with Antoine Semenyo on 21.

You have to go down to 14 before you find the next Manchester United player in Bryan Mbeumo.

Most chances created in the whole of Europe

Fernandes’ numbers are not just impressive through a Premier League lens either.

His tally of 133 chances created puts him top of Europe’s big five leagues, 38 ahead of RB Leipzig’s David Raum.

Michael Olise, who was widely praised for being one of the best players in the world last season, created just 80 chances in comparison.

Most through balls in the Premier League

What’s most notable about watching Fernandes is his desire to push forward whenever he is on the ball and perhaps the stat that speaks to that most is the number of through balls he completed throughout the year.

Fernandes picked out a pass 39 times last season, 10 ahead of second-place Rayan Cherki.

This stat is all the more impressive when you consider how advanced up the pitch he plays. Adam Wharton for example, has a deeper role than Fernandes is fourth in the list with 21.