Bruno Fernandes: Keane and Wright assess Man United’s captain | OneFootball

Roy Keane has waded back into the debate about Bruno Fernandes after their clash last month, while Ian Wright hails the Manchester United captain’s creativity as “brilliant”.

Mending Broken Bridges

With Bruno Fernandes on the hunt to break the Premier League assist record, which is jointly held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne, Keane decried the “circus act” that began to surround each United game over it.

Despite the Portugal international invariably producing an outstanding performance each week, ultimately leading him to scoop up every Player of the Year award on offer, the Irishman performed his best Donald Trump impression by misquoting Fernandes as part of his attack.

Following the 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest in May, Keane claimed the United star had said “I probably should have shot but I made them passes” in a post-match interview after notching his 20th assist of the season, drawing him level with Henry and De Bruyne.

Instead, Fernandes’ actual quote read: “There were probably moments today when I should have passed instead of shot. I’m very happy for the assist, but more than that, I’m happy for the win and to finish the season on a high.”

The former midfielder went on to reveal he was embarrassed by what he saw during the match at Old Trafford, stating he was left “cringing” and “raging” by Fernandes. In retaliation, the 31-year-old accused Keane of telling a “lie” by putting untrue “words in my mouth” – a response which drew widespread praise from a United fanbase that has grown weary of the club’s former players attacking the current cohort.

Despite a cryptic retort on social media by Keane immediately after, the pair made peace a few weeks later, with the ITV pundit revealing a “lovely chat” over the phone had cleared the air.

“99 times out of 100…”

The evidence of the mended bridges was on full display this week after Keane hailed Fernandes as the “best player in the world” at launching deadly counter-attacks after Portugal’s victory over Uzbekistan.

Roberto Martinez’s side ran out 5-0 winners in a blowout in Dallas, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring twice and Manchester United target Rafael Leao grabbing the fifth. Fernandes produced a superb pass for Ronaldo’s second, which drew praise from Keane and Wright.

Asked to expand on his view of Fernandes being the “best in the world” at the final pass by Gary Neville on The Overlap, Keane said: “Without a shadow of doubt [he is the best at that]…99 times out of 100, he will pick the right pass, to the right player [with] the right weight. Bruno, in that position, [is] unbelievable.”

Wright backed up his fellow pundit, claiming there is a level of assurance the “brilliant” Fernandes offers when picking the right pass in transition which makes you say “he’s going to get that” through the defence without doubt.

“There is loads of pluses to his passes, and that is the beauty with Manchester United in the last year [because] Bruno needs runners, so when he has people running [in behind] he will pick you out,” Keane concludes.

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