Bruno Fernandes: Man United captain sets out lofty ambitions ahead of new season | OneFootball

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Manchester United’s captain Bruno Fernandes had a wonderful season last year.

Incredible season

He broke the Premier League assist record with 21 and won the Premier League Player of the Season.

Fernandes has also been named the Manchester United Player of the Season, FWA Footballer of the Year, and finally the PFA Players’ Player of the Year in a stunning year of recognition. The Portugal international spoke to the Men in Blazers YouTube channel about what has been an incredible year for him on a personal level.

Fernandes was first asked about his objectives for the new season and he outlined, “for me, it’s about winning every game. I don’t want less than that. Every game we’re involved in, we want to win it. We don’t see it any other way. I think this club can look that way, and as a group of players, I think we have the ability to go into every game and face everyone with no fear.”

When asked about his assist record he explained, “I’ve said this many times: I don’t think it’s about my assists. I think it’s more about the player scoring the goals. If you look at my game, it hasn’t changed.”

Instead, he pinpointed that he has always been one of the biggest chance creators in the league and that the difference last season was that his teammates were more clinical in front of goal.

Fernandes continued, “what I want is my strikers to score goals. Obviously, if I have the chance to make that happen more often, I’ll be very happy with it—not because I would get the assist, but because they will get more goals.”

Difference in Michael Carrick’s system

Fernandes compared his role under previous head coach Ruben Amorim and claimed he was deeper and had more of a role in dictating the tempo of the game.

Whilst explaining his role under Carrick, he said, “the only thing that changed was that the position where I was playing was a little bit higher. Then, obviously, the dynamics of the team were also a little bit different because we were playing in a different system. That probably meant we had more people into the box and more options to pass in the last third.”

New signings

United have brought in three new midfielders this summer and Bruno was asked to comment on what he felt they would bring to the team.

He praised Youri Tielemans’ ability to score spectacular goals and claimed, “I think he’s a player who brings us experience and calmness in the midfield. Someone who can pass the ball forward very quickly and find the spaces and the gaps for the players in front to have time on the ball and make the decisions a little bit easier for us.”

When asked to describe Andrey Santos, he said, “is someone very good at hunting the ball and giving it very quickly, passing forward and breaking lines. I think both of them, if I’m not mistaken, were two of the highest last season in the Premier League for passes that break lines.”

Young players

Fernandes highlighted Jack and Tyler Fletcher, as well as Dan Gore, as young players who have done well. He paid particular attention to Shea Lacey, though.

The attacking midfielder stated, “I think Shea Lacey came with a very different mentality this season in terms of playing off the ball. I think it’s been great, and it was one of the first things I said to him when I came back from vacation because I had to watch three games.”

He added, “he was playing in the position I play, where it demands a lot of running and emotional intelligence to be covering spaces and helping the ones in front, and he did that very well. Technical ability was never in doubt for him. He’s an exceptional player. He has some very good abilities.”

Fernandes also revealed that he coached him when Lacey was 14 and Fernandes was doing his coaching badges, and they now joke about that time.

This season

Finally, Fernandes was asked to discuss what he wanted to achieve this season and he explained, “I want to be a better version of myself every year that goes through my career. My aim is always to do as much as I can to improve my game and myself, because that’s the only way I can improve the team and help them become more successful.”