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Bruno Fernandes thread: 
A player who has been linked with numerous top clubs throughout this season, the 24 year old Portugese midfielder has been a considerably late bloomer bursting onto the scene with his performances for Sporting & the Portugese national side.
Known for his prolific goal scoring out of midfield, Fernandes has scored 31 goals in 50 appearances for the Lisbon side.
Fernandes plays mainly higher up the pitch, trying to create chances for himself as well as teammates, however, drops deep when required. Below is his heat map for the 18/19 season.
Former Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho recently said to Eleven Sports “I was surprised by the season of Bruno. It was easy to predict quality. He is a very good player, but scored a very high number of goals for a midfield player” 1/2
“It shows that you need to have instinct and qualities to score and he has it all. He strikes the ball well, heads well, cool when he is one-on-one with the goalkeeper. He finds space in the penalty area. It’s all there.”
Big wraps fron one of the best managers in the game. However, Bruno has justified all this praise through his all-round play this season.
Unlike many midfielders who are limited to various roles, Bruno is a significant threat with both his passing and shooting. He averaged 3.1 key passes a game while averaging 3.5 shots per game.
He also scored 4 goals from outside of the box and 3 from free kicks. In regard to his assist total, he finished the season with 15 assists.
However, the most important aspects of his game are his ability to see space in the opponent’s defensive line.
Bruno looks to receive the ball between the defensive line and make the most of available half-spaces. From there, he will look to find an outlet pass to his wide players or to create something himself with his great ability in tight spaces and agility.
Fernandes is extremely adept at positioning himself in the right places and the timing of his runs show that. Whether it’s to run behind the defensive line, slip in behind the defence or to arrive outside the penalty area to shoot. You can guarantee he will make the right choice.
The Portugese is so dangerous because it doesn’t end with just goals, in the 18/19 season he averaged 53.4 passes per game, completing at 75.1%. To add to that, he had 1.8 crosses per game and 4.3 long balls a game.
Most recently, we saw Fernandes playing a key role with his national side, helping the Seleção to the Nations League title with his play as a left side midfielder in a 4-3-3, a similar system that Ole Gunnar Solskjær has used at Manchester United.
In conclusion, we can all see the promise that Fernandes has, a dynamic midfielder who impacts the game strongly with his creativity and goal scoring, he will no doubt vastly improve the midfield of any club he joins.
At this stage, Manchester United are closest to Bruno with a reported fee of £60,000,000 being touted. Here’s why the 24 year old would be such a great buy for the Red Devils.
Currently, United’s midfield relies solely on Paul Pogba for a majority of it’s creativity. The presence of Fernandes would add an added spark in both creativity and goals. Meaning that the frenchman would benefit by not being the sole focus of opposition tactics to negate him.
Overall, the Portugese would be a phenomenal signing for Manchester United. Reports throughout Portugal are saying a deal is near and barring any big surprises we can all expect to see the Portugese midfielder running out at Old Trafford come the new season.
