Exclusive: Ex-Man Utd player claims Fernandes is ‘not a leader’ as CL set as Amorim’s minimum target | OneFootball

Former Manchester United defender Paul Parker has claimed Bruno Fernandes is ‘not a leader’ and suggested he cannot be mentioned in the same breath as some of the club’s great captains.

Fernandes was handed the United armband in the summer of 2023 and there has been constant scrutiny over this style of leadership ever since.

Former United captain Roy Keane has been one of many United legends who have constantly suggested the Portuguese playmaker is not the man to lead a team that has fallen short of expectations during his time as captain.

Now Parker, who was a key figure in Sir Alex Ferguson’s first two Premier League title-winning sides in the 1992/93 and 1993/94 season, has served up an equally damning verdict on Fernandes.

Speaking exclusively to Football365 with British Gambler, the former England full-back was scathing in his verdict on the midfielder’s suitability to lead the team to success.

“Bruno is not a leader,” declared Parker. “He’s somebody who suits the game at the moment in time when everyone is relying on statistics to make their judgements.

“When Bruno hasn’t played well, they throw up his stats and everything says ‘wow’, but it’s not all about that.

“You can’t mention him in the same breath as someone like Roy Keane. If you are going to be judged on what you do over 90 minutes, I think Roy would put him in his place on numerous occasions. So would former United captains like Steve Bruce and Bryan Robson. Established players would not stand for any player who behaves in that manner.

“I was fortunate enough to play in a generation where we had a few leaders. One player had the armband, but there were a few lieutenants out there. That was a different era.

“Football isn’t like that any more because of the way people are being brought up now. There are not many people who want to lead from the front in this world.

“You’ve also got managers who don’t want people to lead. You have managers who want to play a certain system and they don’t want players who have an opinion. That’s why we are not seeing people grabbing hold of the game any more and leading from the front.”

Parker went in to suggest United should be aiming high in a Premier League season that has thrown up so many unexpected storylines so far.

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With champions Liverpool struggling and all the top teams dropping points, Parker believes anything less than qualification for the Champions League may be seen as failure for manager Ruben Amorim, as he compared table toppers Arsenal to the kind of team they had when George Graham was their manager in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

“If the manager doesn’t have the expectations to get into the top four or five this season, then he needs to get out of the job,” added Parker.

“The way the Premier League is going this season, anything is possible. If Amorim could get 30 per-cent more out of his players, they could win the league with the way it’s going at the moment.

“You look at where the points are at the moment and it says it all. The levels we are seeing is poor and the points are being spread all over the place.

“If you are a neutral, you are probably enjoying it and we might be seeing a bit of 2016 here when Leicester won it.

“A few weeks ago, everyone wanted to pay out on Arsenal and say the title race was over, but I am looking at them and they are not that good.

“You are looking at a well-rounded George Graham team that has spent more money. They have shown more consistency than the other teams at the moment, but the levels are not good this season.

“If United can lift themselves and move up a level, they could embed themselves in a Champions League spot.”