Bruno = stability. Raised Manchester United in the style of Canton, and now enjoys a new role

In January 2020, Man United pulled off the best signing in the post-Ferguson era and one of the best winter transfers ever. At the end of the TO, the club bought Bruno Fernandes: for the midfielder, Sporting was paid 47 million pounds.

In three years, Bruno scored 100 assists, became vice-captain (although he often comes out with an armband, because Maguire remains on the bench) and United’s most consistent player. Such a turbulent United.

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In January 2020, it seemed that United had zero chances of getting into the Champions League: 5th place after 24 rounds, defeats from Burnley and Watford, minus 14 points from Leicester, who were in third.

Dimitar Berbatov, after signing Bruno , said that one person would not change the situation: “I constantly read about Fernandes, but he is not a magician. Do people really think that if one player comes to the team, the club will automatically start winning.

It’s just one player, it doesn’t work like that, because it’s a team game. You can’t expect one person to come in and make a difference at Manchester United, even if it’s Messi or Ronaldo.”

Solskjaer retorted: Bruno’s statistics at Sporting speak for themselves.

True, when transferred to the Premier League, the numbers usually decrease – Slava Palagin spoke about this in detail . The indicators of players from Portugal sag on average by 15% – it was calculated by analyst Tony El-Habr.

But Bruno broke the system: 3 + 2 in the first 6 games, 20 assists in half a season in the new team, the championship and in covid realities.

•‎ Bruno sorted through expected goals and assists: if we discard the FA Cup (he is not shortchanged by statistical offices), the Portuguese had 9.6 xG (11 scored) and 4.2 xA (8 assists).

In terms of influence on the team, Ryan Giggs compared the Portuguese with Canton: after the arrival of the Frenchman in the 1992/93 season, Manchester United immediately won the championship – for the first time in 26 years.