Bruno Fernandes: How Man Utd’s captain won the FWA award and set the record straight – and what’s next?

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has not come close to winning the Premier League or the Champions League since joining the club in 2020.

Under Erik ten Haag, he has won two domestic titles – and if United finish third this season, it will be the only better place they have finished once during Fernandez’s time at Old Trafford.

But it represents a modest return for a player who many would argue is United’s best signing since former manager Sir Alex Ferguson in 2015.

On Friday, he was called Football Writers Association Footballer of the Year. But Fernandes isn’t aspiring for individual accolades.

Speaking to the media in October, he said: “I don’t see that one player is better than another because he wins more trophies, not every time the best player in the world wins the Ballon d’Or.”

I want to win trophies. I want to be recognized for the many good things I have done for the club, not just my number one for bringing something to the club.

United won’t win a trophy this season, but there are still two milestones ahead of Fernandes.

He needs one more assist to equal his Premier League record of 20 in a single campaign – from Arsenal great Thierry Henry and former Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne.

Fernandez has surpassed Manchester City’s Ryan Cherky on the Premier League assist chart this season with eight, while West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen is third with 10 assists.

Breaking the record means a lot to Fernandez, who will be a key part of Portugal’s World Cup squad this summer. So much so that one of his United team-mates told him he felt Fernandez would soon have a shot against Brentford instead of setting up striker Benjamin Cesc. Fernandez rejected this idea.

Fernandes is favored to win the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award, which Henry and De Bruyne have taken twice.

Despite the lack of major trophies, do the assists record and another Player of the Year award prove he is one of the most creative forces of the Premier League’s history?