Манчестер Юнайтедын ахлагч Бруну Фернандес 16 жилийн дараа PFA-ийн шилдэг тоглогчийн шагналыг хүртсэн анхны тоглогч боллоо.
Бруну Фернандес Уэйн Рүүнийгээс хойш PFA-ийн шилдэг тоглогчийн шагналыг хүртсэн Манчестер Юнайтедын анхны тоглогч болов. Тэрээр өнгөрсөн тавдугаар сард Хөлбөмбөгийн сэтгүүлчдийн холбооны (FWA) оны шилдэг тоглогчийн шагналыг мөн хүртсэн бөгөөд өнгөрсөн улиралд Премьер лигийн 21 оновчтой дамжуулалтыг гүйцэтгэж, лигийн дээд амжилтыг тогтоосон юм. Манчестер Юнайтедын дасгалжуулагч асан Оле Гуннар Солскяер Брунуг гайхалтай тоглогч төдийгүй шилдэг хувь хүн хэмээн тодорхойлж, хувийн шагналыг Премьер лигийн цомтой харьцуулах боломжгүйг онцолжээ.
Каземирогийн ярьснаар, Брунугийн өндөр үзүүлэлт нь багийн хамтрагчдынх нь дэмжлэгтэй салшгүй холбоотой бөгөөд тэрээр талбай дээрх үүргээ тогтмол өндөр түвшинд гүйцэтгэсээр байна. Гэсэн хэдий ч багийн бүрэлдэхүүнд өөрчлөлт орж, Майкл Каррик тэргүүтэй удирдлага ахлагчийнхаа ачааллыг зохицуулах шаардлагатай байгааг хүлээн зөвшөөрөв. Бруну нь Сер Алекс Фергюсоны дараах үеийн Манчестер Юнайтедын хамгийн нөлөө бүхий тоглогчоор нэрлэгдэж байгаа ч багийн амжилт, ялангуяа айлын талбайд үзүүлж буй тогтворгүй тоглолтод сэтгэл дундуур байгаагаа илэрхийлжээ.
Есдүгээр сарын 8-нд 32 нас хүрэх Бруну Фернандес Манчестер Юнайтедын төлөө 328 тоглолтод оролцож, 107 гоол оруулаад байна. Бобби Чарлтоны гоолын дундажтай ижил үзүүлэлттэй тэрээр зөвхөн талбай дээрх тоглолтоор бус, хувцас солих өрөөний уур амьсгалыг нэгтгэгч, мэргэжлийн өндөр түвшний ахлагчийн хувиар багтаа үнэтэй хувь нэмэр оруулж байна. Брайан Робсоны адил тэрээр Премьер лигийн цомыг өргөхийн төлөө тэмүүлсээр байгаа юм.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Bruno Fernandes is the first Manchester United player to win the PFA Player of the Year award since Wayne Rooney 16 years ago. When he first signed from Sporting CP in 2020, there was a clause in his original contract stating that the Old Trafford club would pay another £4.2m (€5m, $5.5m) should Fernandes be voted for the award by his fellow professionals and win, though he’s been such a success since that he’s had new improved contracts and United will be spared paying another few million for a player who cost £47million, plus up to £21million in add-ons, most of which have been met.
In May, Fernandes also matched Rooney’s crowning in 2010 as the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year. Again, no United player had won it since.
United players won the PFA award for three successive years prior to Rooney: Cristiano Ronaldo twice and Ryan Giggs once. The lack of individual awards since usually reflects no team success, so Fernandes had to be especially outstanding last term given United came third in the league, didn’t play European football and exited both domestic cup competitions at the first hurdle.
“It’s an honour but I’m sure Bruno would rather win the Premier League title with his team than an individual award,” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the manager who brought him to Old Trafford, tells The Athletic.“Bruno was a great player, great person and I thoroughly enjoyed managing him.”
Fernandes was indeed special and had much to do with that third-place finish. He was United’s best performer, captain and all-round hero, capable of producing moments of magic, of unlocking defences. He hit headlines by breaking the Premier League’s assist record with his 21st of the season in the final league game at Brighton in May. His first of those 21 didn’t come until the eighth game at Liverpool.
Casemiro celebrates with Fernandes last season (Photo: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
“I think one of the factors why Bruno has got so many assists is that the players this year are helping him,” Casemiro told me a week before. “For me, this is a big factor because Bruno is playing the same as always. It is true that Bruno’s numbers are very high, but for me Bruno is not doing anything different from what he did in the last four years here.
“The players are helping. It’s also important to distribute the pressure to everyone”.
“Bruno always hits the ball really well, he shoots the penalties really well, he takes the free kicks really well,” added Casemiro. “He’s assisting more, which is great but – and I’m not taking anything from him – it’s also because of the players around him”.
Last season, that was mostly Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Amad, Casemiro and Benjamin Sesko. This season it will be different. Casemiro is in Miami, Manuel Ugarte is injured, Mason Mount could feature more, Marcus Rashford is back, then there are new signings Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba.
None of the new boys are No 10s like Bruno and they’ll have to get used to playing together, but it’s also likely that United’s captain, who has missed only 12 league games since he signed over six years ago, won’t appear in every single game with his team back in the Champions League. Michael Carrick implied as much last week, saying: “He’s a big player for us, he’s obviously our captain, but there’s still elements where we need to look after him.”
Carrick says he will have to look after Fernandes (Photo: ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP via Getty Images)
Fernandes was the only current United player to make my list of Manchester United’s greatest 25 players list published throughout this summer in The Athletic, albeit at 25. Since then, I’ve asked several United treble winners if Fernandes would get in their side and all said no. As they might. They’re protecting their own greatness, but one succinct answer was: “In front of who?” Which is fair.
That said, Fernandes is the greatest player in the now 13-year (and counting) post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, during a turbulent period where, due to a changing media landscape, he and his teammates are scrutinised and criticised far more than those of yore.
It would be a shame if he doesn’t win the league title in a United shirt, but great players have also played at Old Trafford and not won league titles. With age not on his side, there was clear frustration in Fernandes’ post-match comments after Saturday’s awful 2-0 defeat at Hull City.
“Same mistakes as we did last season, every away game,” he told TNT Sports. “We give too much of the ball to them. I think they have, in the beginning of the game — first 20 minutes — the [Hull] goalkeeper was the one who had more touches on the ball. Too much time — I think we need to press a little bit more; we need to be a little bit more aggressive.”
United’s away form badly needs to improve if they’re to win a first title since 2013 and it was fair for the captain to point out the way the goals were conceded.
“And then, again, set plays, we need to work on it, to be more aggressive and try to not concede these types of goals,” Fernandes added in a frank post-match exchange. “The most frustrating thing is that we lost the game, that’s it.” It could, however, in fairness, be pointed out that United’s forwards did not score.
Fernandes himself is 32 on September 8. His performances have shown no sign of deterioration but can he play like this at 35? Does he age like Luka Modric or Ryan Giggs and remain a hugely influential figure? He’s not the biggest runner as it is, so it’s not like he relies on running, but does he tweak his game and adapt, as Giggs did, or does he just take a huge offer to play in a league where standards are lower but the pay is higher and less taxed than in the Premier League? His pre-eminence at United has given him a global profile, even if the team he’s led has not been all-conquering.
Fernandes has played 328 United games and scored 107 goals. His ratio of goals to games is 0.327, the same as Bobby Charlton’s and better than Rashford’s. But he’s not just about numbers. He’s multilingual and helps knit together the various characters in the dressing room.
“He’s selfless, he’s caring, he connects every single corner of the dressing room, every single member of staff,” one departed member of staff told The Athletic. “He’s a true Manchester United player and captain. He’s guided us through some difficult periods and maintained a high level of professionalism when he’s been under scrutiny.”
Like former United legend and captain Bryan Robson, Fernandes is clearly the club’s top footballer at a time when United are a better cup side than perennial title winners. Robson had to wait until his mid-thirties until he lifted the league trophy with United. Fernandes dreams of doing the same.
