Manchester United have endured a pretty average season by their standards thus far in the Premier League and they find themselves way off the pace in the race for the title. There’s still an outside chance of a top four place if they can string a good run together, and latest superstar signing Bruno Fernandes will help with that. He was reportedly their number one target in the January window alongside Edinson Cavani. But is the signing of a new £50m+ Portuguese midfielder just papering over the cracks to appease the fans for a while?
The Season So Far
Manchester is staying blue for another season at least it seems. After a fantastic opening day 4-0 win at home to Chelsea, it was, frustratingly for United fans, just one league win in the next eight after that. They’ve tried to keep pace with those at the top all season, but a draw here and a defeat there has left them well adrift at the time of writing. One league win in 2020 hasn’t helped either. United are priced at around 7/1 to end the season in the top four looking at the odds of some betting sites popular among UK bettors. Write them off at your peril though. This is Manchester United after all.
It looks like March will be a defining month in the Premier League for the red half of Manchester. Games against Everton, bitter rivals Manchester City, Spurs, and Sheffield United. A good month could see those top four odds shorten dramatically.
Let’s not forget that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side are still in the Europa League and the FA Cup. Although a fair few critics are writing United’s season off, there’s a lot still up for grabs. Top four, an FA Cup win and a Europa League win. What a season that would be. With the signing of Bruno Fernandes and the hopeful return of Paul Pogba before the end of the season, anything’s possible.
What Can Bruno Fernandes Bring to the Team?
Anyone comparing him to Cristiano Ronaldo just because he’s Portuguese is just silly. He’s a completely different type of player. But he can score goals that’s for sure. He scored 32 goals and grabbed 18 assists for Sporting Lisbon last season. He knows where the net is. He’s also an incredible passer of the ball.
So he can score goals and he can pass. Is there anything he can’t do? Well, don’t expect him to leap like a salmon and score too many headers from set plays. But that part of his game’s not needed to be honest. He’s seen as a very direct player, producing a lot of key passes for his teammates. He’s a really hard worker too, which the United fans will love. The complete player at 25 years old. It was a lot of money on paper, but he could turn out to be a bargain if he realises his potential in England.
It takes a lot for a young footballer to move countries and ply his trade in a completely different style of league. But that’s exactly what Bruno Fernandes did when he moved to Novara in Italy at the age of 17 to play Serie B football. After Novara came Udinese and then came Sampdoria. He improved every time. Sporting bought him in 2017 and slapped a 100 million Euros buy out clause on him. They knew he was going to be a star.
It remains to be seen how long he will take to adapt to English football, but if he starts every game for United from now until the end of the season, or at least has a hand in every game, Manchester United could go from having a pretty average season to a spectacular season. Even if they don’t go all the way in the Europa League or the FA Cup, if the Red Devils can finish in the top four, the frustration a lot of fans have with the owners might just be forgotten for a short while.
