Since signing for Manchester United at the tail end of January and playing just nine times for his new club, Portuguese midfielder Bruno Fernandes has admitted that he must adapt his game to outsmart his opponents when the Premier League resumes later this month. Fernandes made a great start for United, scoring three goals and four assists.
The 25-year-old was also named as the Premier League Player of the Month for February and continued his form into March with football all around the world being suspended by mid-March and since then, only the Bundesliga has returned with the Premier League, Serie A and La Liga due to resume this month.
Fernandes has helped revive United, who were lacking creativity in the months leading up to the Portuguese magnifico’s arrival at the Theatre of Dreams, with Paul Pogba injury for most of the season and Scott McTominay also unjust for long spells, leaving United’s midfield at bare bones, which was problematic, not to mention the lack of attack.
United’s return to Premier League action will be against Tottenham Hotspur away from Old Trafford, a match which should have been played days after United beat LASK 5-0 in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 first leg, which saw United in great form with 11 matches unbeaten in all competitions, 29 goals scored, two goals conceded and nine clean sheets.
Fernandes, speaking to Talent Ain’t Enough, spoke about many things including him doing a lot better than he has so far in his career, seemingly being his own worst critic in thinking he has not been good enough, which shows a true professional and a player that strives to be the best he can be, which is great. The Portuguese midfielder said:
“My idea for the next few years is doing better than I have until now. For me, in games it’s not good enough, because now is maybe the most difficult part.
“The players start to recognise your game, start to know how you move, how you pass, how you shoot and the things become difficult now.
“So now I need to improve more and to work more and understand more the teams who I play against because they will understand me better.
“But I need to be prepared to understand better the difficulties they can have.
“My vision of coming to Manchester United is that I’m at one of the best clubs in the world, for me, the best club in England”
It is clear that Fernandes wants to achieve great things in his footballing career, which could be one of the reasons that he decided to leave Sporting Clube de Portugal for United back in January – there was a lot of speculation last summer suggesting that the player and the club were meant to be together, waiting six months or so for that to happen.
United have not been as great as they could be for about seven years now, since Sir Alex Ferguson retired at the end of the 2012/13 season, when United lifted their 20th league title and 13th Premier League title. They have not really challenged since then, despite coming second, 19 points adrift of Manchester City a few years back.
United has achieved glory, winning the FA Community Shield twice, the EFL Cup (now the Carabao Cup) once and the UEFA Europa League, which completed the clubs historic haul of all major honours they could have won in the history of the club. Fernandes will be hungry to add to United’s trophy haul and be part of the club new future, seeking glory.
