The options to replace Bruno Fernandes if Man Utd are daft enough to sell him | OneFootball

If Manchester United are brave/stupid enough to sell Bruno Fernandes this summer, there is one option above all others who might replace him…

Fernandes is indispensable to United. Sure, they will have to replace him at some point, but if the club had any sense, it would not be this summer, especially while there is an expensive, Casemiro-shaped hole to fill at the base of their midfield.

But we know (because Fernandes told us how ‘hurt’ he was by it) that United were happy to sell him last summer and this year might be their last chance to make big money on their skipper.

Again, they really should resist that temptation. But though United are finally showing a little nous when it comes to trading and transfers, there have been far too many screw-ups to ignore the prospect of them doing something daft around Fernandes.

If they do, who could replace the Premier League’s finest playmaker?

The vogue option: Morgan Rogers

Rogers has built on the form that earned him last season’s PFA Young Player of the Year award to become Villa’s focal point and a probable starter at the World Cup for England.

Perhaps more than anyone else going into the next window, a clamour is building ahead of a possible summer move, with United, Liverpool and Chelsea all linked.

But Villa are already demanding close to £100million, a figure that will only increase if the 23-year-old does indeed start and impress with England at the World Cup.

Our gut feeling: it’s a price too high to pay right now, especially while the suspicion remains that Rogers’ best work might come when operating from the left flank. We retain the right to change our view at any time, especially if Rogers plays ahead of Jude Bellingham and slips Harry Kane through for the winner in the World Cup final. In the event of which, this paragraph will self-destruct.

The circumstantial option: Morgan Gibbs-White

The 26-year-old is the latest to be linked with United, who are said to be interested in picking off the England international if Nottingham Forest are relegated. Obviously, they are not the only vulture circling the City Ground.

Gibbs-White has made 59 goal contributions in 155 appearances since joining Forest from Wolves for £40million, and a deeper dive paints a picture of one of the Premier League’s top playmakers.

This season, only Florian Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai have completed more passes in the final third, while only the same pair plus Rogers have completed more passes into a dangerous position. That’s while Forest are scrapping at the foot of the table.

If Forest go down, Gibbs-White will almost certainly want away, regardless of whether the release clause that was once in his contract is still present.

The unlikely option: Martin Odegaard

The prospect of United and Arsenal doing business over Odegaard seems, at best, remote. But it’s not like the two clubs haven’t done business before.

So United would be wise to keep an eye on Odegaard’s situation since something seems to be brewing with two years remaining on his contract.

If Arsenal win the title, it will be the Norwegian lifting the trophy, but Odegaard certainly cannot claim to have the influence on the Gunners he once did. He has started less than half of their Premier League matches this term while Declan Rice gets used to the armband on his bicep.

Perhaps he really does need a change of scene away from Mikel Arteta’s prescriptive approach to recapture the form that made him a two-time Arsenal Player of the Year and one of the best playmakers in the Premier League.

The superstar option: Jude Bellingham

This feels like something the United of old would have done. But we cannot say for certain just yet that they have fully reformed and repented, and the chance to make Bellingham their poster boy might see the Red Devils return to their old ways.

Sure, Bellingham is a wonderful player and the red shirt would not hang as heavy on him as it does others. But United have to consider why Real would consider selling, especially if it is for anything less than the stupid money Jim Ratcliffe prefers not to spend.

It is claimed that Bellingham will seek to leave Real if Jurgen Klopp comes in – which is apparently fine by the German. Bellingham is also said to have had a fraught relationship with Xabi Alonso while his issues with Thomas Tuchel are widely known.

They can’t all be wrong, can they? Unless Bellingham heeds the warning over his World Cup place and reins in the ego, United might be wisest to swerve whatever opportunity they have to sign a player they failed to woo when he left Birmingham for Borussia Dortmund.

The left-field option: Mikkel Damsgaard

United like a Prem-proven player ready to take the step up and Damsgaard certainly fits that criteria.

The Danish playmaker, who models his game on Andres Iniesta, took his time to settle into the Premier League, getting used to the physicality after arriving from Sampdoria, but last season the 24-year-old became pivotal for the Bees on the way to being named their POTY ahead of Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa.

Might it be Damsgaard’s turn for a big move?

There are suggestions that Keith Andrews’ direct approach limits the Dane’s impact but he is still pulling strings. Of all central midfielders and attacking midfielders, only Morgan Rogers has played a higher percentage of his passes into dangerous areas; only Fernandes and Casemiro have played more passes resulting in a clear chance; and no attacking midfielder has played more big-time passes, defined by our friends at Gradient Sports as ‘higher difficulty passes played accurately, usually taking defenders out leading to a chance or at least a dangerous position’.

The best option: Cole Palmer

United moving for Palmer, if it is true he fancies a return to the north-west, is the only circumstance in which we might give the Red Devils a pass for selling Fernandes