Bruno Fernandes should NOT win award after hypocritical Arsenal ‘lesson’ learned with baffling Guehi take

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·17 de marzo de 2026

Bruno Fernandes should NOT win award after hypocritical Arsenal ‘lesson’ learned with baffling Guehi take

Bruno Fernandes should NOT win the Footballer of the Year award because it must go to a champion. Unless it’s an Arsenal player 14 years ago.

There is some exceptional hypocrisy from the Arsenal-supporting chair of the Football Writers’ Association.

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And also plenty of brutality from Bayer Leverkusen and Pep Guardiola.

We do talk about Bruno

Nothing gets the juices of a football writer for a newspaper flowing quite like individual awards season. It is Henry Winter’s favourite time to be alive after St George’s Day and Gareth Southgate’s birthday.

And equally, little titillates those same journalists more than covering Manchester United, good or bad. So this Daily Mirror website headline being published in mid-March does not surprise:

‘Why Bruno Fernandes does NOT deserve Footballer of the Year despite stellar season’

Well he isn’t the PFA Player of the Year favourite but he absolutely has been one of the best players in the Premier League this season, so would surely be a worthy winner of the FWA award?

It’s a weird and no doubt classy hill for John Cross to die on.

But go on then. Why does arguably the best player in the Premier League this season NOT deserve to be voted the best player in the Premier League this season?

‘There can be no doubt that he is the best player in the team which may well finish as the third best team in the table. It is some turnaround, another stellar season and, as a colleague wrote after the Villa game, where would United be without him? ‘But, sorry, that cannot be enough to make him Footballer of the Year. It has to come from the team which wins the title.’

It very specifically doesn’t. Because that would be really boring and pointless. Although we are literally discussing a non-existent criteria for FWA Footballer of the Year award voting here so Mediawatch shouldn’t throw stones.

There are mentions of Gabriel and Declan Rice being more worthy winners, which is absolutely fine. A little stranger is the shout for Marc Guehi as the ‘difference maker’ if Manchester City win the Premier League; if you insist on going down that route then surely Antoine Semenyo is the better pick as a mid-season signing?

In any event, neither Guehi, Semenyo nor any Manchester City player has been the best in the Premier League this season. Only a contrarian would argue otherwise. Yet if they overhaul Arsenal to win it, suddenly the Footballer of the Year award can only go to a member of their squad?

This hilariously flimsy argument in favour of Guehi underlines how daft this Cross stance is:

‘It has not been a vintage season by Pep Guardiola’s standards. But January changed everything. And I think if they win the title – and they still can – then Guehi will be the signing who swung it in their favour.’

‘January changed everything’ for Manchester City, who are third – behind Fernandes’ Manchester United – in a Premier League table since the transformative Guehi joined.

‘Last season, Guehi led Crystal Palace to the FA Cup, led them into Europe for the first time, conducted himself with dignity and respect amid a transfer saga and has tightened up City’s defence since his January move.’

The first two words of that line are pertinent.

‘Over the course of the season, Guehi looks a great choice. Great player, has set a great example and has taken his performances to a new level.’

He’s been decent. Not sure you can just completely ignore his first half of the season in a struggling Crystal Palace side, mind. But again, if you box yourself into a corner by saying only a title-winning player can win a particular award, he’s one of the better bets.

‘I actually think as an individual in a faltering team – which United have been at times – then Dominik Szoboszlai makes a very good case. He has been Liverpool’s best player by a country mile. ‘Why is he not being talked about? Well, it’s obvious. Liverpool have had a disappointing season. So, forgive me, why is Fernandes being judged differently?’

Because he’s been considerably measurably and visibly better? Szoboszlai has been very good for a Liverpool side far worse than last season; Fernandes has been brilliant for a Manchester United team which is the most improved in the league.

‘This is the player who we scrutinise and debate whether he is captain material. And yet now he seems to have a growing momentum to be named as player of the year.’

He is remarkably polarising, granted. Even with Fernandes on at least twice as many Premier League assists as any other player this season, he is a “so-called playmaker” who “just doesn’t do enough”.

But it feels like that’s more on Fernandes’ critics than the player himself.

‘Surely an Arsenal player has to win if they win the title. It has to be about a player making an impact to help his team win a trophy.’

It naturally often is, but obviously doesn’t have to be.

‘Back in the day, I voted for Scott Parker for the Football Writers’ Association’s Footballer of the Year. West Ham were relegated. But it taught me a lesson: go for a player in a winning team.’

Not entirely sure why that taught Cross a lesson, what lesson it taught him, nor who taught it to him. But Cross clearly didn’t learn it immediately: he voted the entirely trophyless Robin van Persie as the winner the following season.

And he handily penned a Daily Mirror piece at the time explaining precisely why. Sometimes this sh*t writes itself:

‘But the Footballer of the Year, in my view, should go to the individual who has had most influence on the season, irrespective of his team’s success.’

Agreed.

‘By comparison, I think [Parker]’s had an average season. Clint Dempsey would have been a better choice – and I was glad to see he made the top four in the FWA voting. And yet Fulham are below Spurs. But it’s about the individual.’

Well quite.

‘There’s been times when van Persie has carried Arsenal with his goals and his captaincy. His performances, leadership and goals have been remarkable.’

Replace ‘Van Persie’ with ‘Fernandes’ and ‘Arsenal’ with ‘Manchester United’ and you have the story of this season.

‘When Arsenal have struggled with form and injuries, van Persie has stepped up. He’s been proud to wear the armband and has emerged as a truly world class player.’

Exactly.

‘Make no mistake. Arsenal have been awful at times this season. Defeats at Manchester United and Blackburn were crushing. But van Persie has remained consistently brilliant.’

Didn’t win a bloody thing, though, did he? David Silva and Sergio Aguero were robbed.

Of course, back when the award was ‘about the individual’ it benefited an Arsenal player. Now, in 2026, with Arsenal the likely champions, ‘it has to come from the team which wins the title’.

And that, one random and unexplained lesson learned later, is ‘why Bruno Fernandes does NOT deserve Footballer of the Year despite stellar season’ – according to an Arsenal fan.

Brute force

Over at The Sun website, we are told that ‘Bayer Leverkusen brutally mock Arsenal ahead of Champions League showdown’.

By the opening paragraph, the German side merely ‘poked fun’ at their English counterparts.

It is relegated further to a ‘cheeky swipe’ by the third paragraph, and then a ‘light-hearted swipe’ by the sixth, almost as if the Leverkusen X-formerly-Twitter account just ‘posted a photo of the Arsenal corner flag, edited to look like the pitch ended before the quarter-circle’.

How brutal indeed.

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you

Speaking of which…

‘Pep Guardiola tells Man City stars to ‘stay at home’ in brutal warning’ – Daily Mirror website.

He said that any players who “don’t believe” they can mount a comeback against Real Madrid should “go home, stay home”. It’s less a ‘brutal warning’, more a statement of the fairly obvious.

Top trumps

Behold, these two consecutive and entirely incongruous lines from a Sun website story:

‘Despite Rooney’s warning, De Zerbi continues to attract interest from top clubs. ‘Tottenham are among those considering the Italian as they look for a new manager.’

No other interested club is mentioned. Must be a typo.