Gary Lineker has shared what he would be interested to know about Bruno Fernandes after the Manchester United captain scored twice for the side against Bournemouth on Saturday.
Manchester United fans are probably ready for the Premier League season to end. Erik ten Hag’s side have won one of their last seven games in the top-flight.
They were certainly grateful to Bruno Fernandes at the weekend. Bruno scored twice as United left the Vitality Stadium with a point.
Gary Lineker heaps praise on Bruno Fernandes after Manchester United performance
Crucially, that is now five goals in his last five league games for the Portuguese. Meanwhile, the 29-year-old is now United’s top goalscorer in the Premier League this season.
Bruno has come in for some criticism as a captain. It is not uncommon to see the midfielder voicing his frustration out on the pitch. And it is not the best look, particularly when the chips are down.
But there is no question that he is leading by example right now. And speaking to The Rest is Football, Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker suggested that they have a lot of sympathy for Bruno.
Shearer said: “I know he is not everyone’s favourite but where would they be without Bruno Fernandes?”
“I know, absolutely,” Lineker replied. “He is a very talented player. It would be interesting to see him in a team which was very well structured and going well. He has not had that at Man United really. Whether he is part and parcel of that I don’t know but he is a wonderfully gifted footballer.”
Statistic shows skipper is doing all he can to drag Erik ten Hag’s side through rut
It is not going to be Bruno’s best season in the Premier League. But what is interesting is that it should be much better than last year – when ten Hag’s men finished third in the table.
He scored eight goals and contributed eight assists in the top-flight last year. This time around, he is on the same number of goals, and is just two assists adrift.
But he remains massively influential. And there are a couple of statistics which suggest that he is doing all he can to drag United through this rut.
As shown by FBRef, no player in the Premier League has provided more key passes than Bruno this season. And he is in the top four for progressive passes throughout the division too.
Unfortunately for United, it is going to be incredibly difficult to surround Bruno with the quality squad Lineker is talking about while he is still at the peak of his powers.
But he is one of the players, along with the likes of Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund, that United’s team can definitely be built around next year.
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