Bruno Fernandes image 8

Bruno Fernandes Portugal flag

2025-26 Performances

View full 2025-26 profile

6.2 Season Average Rating
Appearances
37
Goals
6
Assists
19
Yellow cards
5
Status
Not open for further replies.
So it just dawned on me that Bruno has only won the League cup and FA Cup with us since he arrived.

A player of his ilk should have at least a couple of Premier League titles and/or European title on his resume.

No wonder he's looking for assurances in the summer. A small part of him probably feels he wasted his career at United, even though he adores the club/fans.
 

Eh, release clause? fecks Ducker on about
 
No brainer for him to consider his options at this stage, he could play at every club in the world right now and they’d welcome him with open arms and the promise of trophies. This defeatist approach from us about rebuilding for the future isn’t good for him. He knows a good summer and we could compete, so it’s time for the club to get serious about it.
 
Damn, 65m euro is peanuts for a world class player (still in his prime). Albeit, age is against him/no resale value etc. Spurs got a 100m for Kane around the age of 30, didn't they? Hopefully we can convince him with our ambition.

Not disputing his quality (of course), but if a top club wanted him, where do you lads reckon he'd end up (ignoring Saudi)?

Madrid could use him behind Mbappe. Can't see Barca or Bayern (Musiala?) going for him. PSG maybe - he could complete their all-Portuguese midfield for them?

He'd definitely be a shoe in for City to replace what KdB offered them and he'd improve Arsenal ten-fold in that Odegaard position. Any one of the Italian teams would love him but i think Bruno is too ambitious for that league.
 
Well within his right to ask for assurances given his all for the club during his peak years, the club have UCL football, are losing a raft of high earners on top of decent sized sales. This summer we should be spending an astronomical amount on players to support him.
 
Ish said:
Damn, 65m euro is peanuts for a world class player (still in his prime). Albeit, age is against him/no resale value etc. Spurs got a 100m for Kane around the age of 30, didn't they? Hopefully we can convince him with our ambition.

Not disputing his quality (of course), but if a top club wanted him, where do you lads reckon he'd end up (ignoring Saudi)?

Madrid could use him behind Mbappe. Can't see Barca or Bayern (Musiala?) going for him. PSG maybe - he could complete their all-Portuguese midfield for them?

He'd definitely be a shoe in for City to replace what KdB offered them and he'd improve Arsenal ten-fold in that Odegaard position. Any one of the Italian teams would love him but i think Bruno is too ambitious for that league.
Click to expand...
Bellingham is class but Real Madrid honestly would be better off getting rid of him and going for Bruno. Surprised they haven't over the years. Barca I think would of they had the money, but they're forever poor. Bayern last summer would've been a good fit but Musiala is back now, so they're unlikely to spend big on that position.

Bruno is the best 10 in world football, he'd start for any team. The main question is who would be willing to spend big money for in some cases, minor improvements, but at age 30. He's not going anywhere, but I hope the club do seriously strengthen. A midfield overhaul of "Baleba and Scott" does feck all for us. We need to aim a lot higher.
 
Ish said:
Damn, 65m euro is peanuts for a world class player (still in his prime). Albeit, age is against him/no resale value etc. Spurs got a 100m for Kane around the age of 30, didn't they? Hopefully we can convince him with our ambition.

Not disputing his quality (of course), but if a top club wanted him, where do you lads reckon he'd end up (ignoring Saudi)?

Madrid could use him behind Mbappe. Can't see Barca or Bayern (Musiala?) going for him. PSG maybe - he could complete their all-Portuguese midfield for them?

He'd definitely be a shoe in for City to replace what KdB offered them and he'd improve Arsenal ten-fold in that Odegaard position. Any one of the Italian teams would love him but i think Bruno is too ambitious for that league.
Click to expand...
Madrid is the obvious one I would think - likely are his dream club and they are in need of something offensively, for sure. If rumours of Mourinho coming in are true there, they have a great squad to play 4231 already, i wonder if they will see this as an opportunity to sell Bellingham as well.
 
bosnian_red said:
Bellingham is class but Real Madrid honestly would be better off getting rid of him and going for Bruno. Surprised they haven't over the years. Barca I think would of they had the money, but they're forever poor. Bayern last summer would've been a good fit but Musiala is back now, so they're unlikely to spend big on that position.

Bruno is the best 10 in world football, he'd start for any team. The main question is who would be willing to spend big money for in some cases, minor improvements, but at age 30. He's not going anywhere, but I hope the club do seriously strengthen. A midfield overhaul of "Baleba and Scott" does feck all for us. We need to aim a lot higher.
Click to expand...

tomaldinho1 said:
Madrid is the obvious one I would think - likely are his dream club and they are in need of something offensively, for sure. If rumours of Mourinho coming in are true there, they have a great squad to play 4231 already, i wonder if they will see this as an opportunity to sell Bellingham as well.
Click to expand...
Yeah Madrid was the standout in my mind as well - albeit it might bring a Bellingham “problem” - though he can play as an 8 if needed (did well against Bayern) but I don’t think they’ll control a midfield like that, with him and Bruno. Imagine Bruno feeding Mbappe.
 
This update is actually positive, he's not saying he wants out but wants to make sure our transfers and clubs priorities are in order next season - which you never know with this club.

If the ambition is Van de Ven and Hayden Hackney over serious targets then he has the right to pick a better project in his last peak years.
 
Ish said:
Yeah Madrid was the standout in my mind as well - albeit it might bring a Bellingham “problem” - though he can play as an 8 if needed (did well against Bayern) but I don’t think they’ll control a midfield like that, with him and Bruno. Imagine Bruno feeding Mbappe.
Click to expand...
Their problem is all of their midfield (Bellingham, Valverde, Tchouameni) are class players, but none are primarily passers. They don't fit together. Realistically any team balance involved pushing Valverde to the right side either at right back or right wing, and then getting a passer in there. Might work out just putting Enzo around Bellingham and Tchouameni but they could probably make it work having Bruno instead of Bellingham and having Valverde in midfield. One of the 3 at least needs to be sacrificed in some way though for a passer.
 
bosnian_red said:
Their problem is all of their midfield (Bellingham, Valverde, Tchouameni) are class players, but none are primarily passers. They don't fit together. Realistically any team balance involved pushing Valverde to the right side either at right back or right wing, and then getting a passer in there. Might work out just putting Enzo around Bellingham and Tchouameni but they could probably make it work having Bruno instead of Bellingham and having Valverde in midfield. One of the 3 at least needs to be sacrificed in some way though for a passer.
Click to expand...
I think Tchou/Valverde is about as good a midfield pair as you could ever field if you want a 10 in front. Valverde is a great passer also, he's a complete player in honesty.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
I think Tchou/Valverde is about as good a midfield pair as you could ever field if you want a 10 in front. Valverde is a great passer also, he's a complete player in honesty.
Click to expand...
He's a great player but he's not a playmaker, he's more of an all action runner. He's just reliable in every way, but he's not a Modric, Kroos or Bruno where he's a playmaker with his passing through the different phases.
 
bosnian_red said:
He's a great player but he's not a playmaker, he's more of an all action runner. He's just reliable in every way, but he's not a Modric, Kroos or Bruno where he's a playmaker with his passing through the different phases.
Click to expand...
Hence why he's ideal for the pair. Modric is the best CM I've ever seen but I think football is moving more towards having less need for a Kroos over the all action CM types. If you play with Bruno at 10 you can't really field a playmaker who wants to sit and dictate. You either go sitting 6 playmaker with 2 x 8 ahead or CM pair + a 10 in my mind.
 
I think now that the Amorim tenure is done, and we’re back to being more flexible in formation, we can definitely plan round him.

Although we should keep an eye on his age and mileage so to speak. An extension to 2030 should be the maximum for him.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
Hence why he's ideal for the pair. Modric is the best CM I've ever seen but I think football is moving more towards having less need for a Kroos over the all action CM types. If you play with Bruno at 10 you can't really field a playmaker who wants to sit and dictate. You either go sitting 6 playmaker with 2 x 8 ahead or CM pair + a 10 in my mind.
Click to expand...
You should still aim for a capable playmaker as one of the CMs. Who progresses the ball from deep and dictates the build-up if Bruno’s the only playmaker? If he has a bad game or is marked out, then that’s that.

Madrid fans are literally crying out for a Kroos replacement for the same reason, even with Guler in the team further forward. Too many box-to-box players who do their best work dribbling rather than passing.
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
It's just for overseas clubs.
Click to expand...
Thanks bud. Was just generalising which “big clubs” he’d actually fit into, but I read earlier on here the clause was only for overseas clubs yeah. I can’t ever recall us inserting a clause in anyone’s contract? Probably an obvious one I’m forgetting.
bosnian_red said:
Their problem is all of their midfield (Bellingham, Valverde, Tchouameni) are class players, but none are primarily passers. They don't fit together. Realistically any team balance involved pushing Valverde to the right side either at right back or right wing, and then getting a passer in there. Might work out just putting Enzo around Bellingham and Tchouameni but they could probably make it work having Bruno instead of Bellingham and having Valverde in midfield. One of the 3 at least needs to be sacrificed in some way though for a passer.
Click to expand...
Yeah, somewhat imbalanced and I’m not sure if Bellingham ends up as an 8 or 10 eventually.
 
Silas said:
You should still aim for a capable playmaker as one of the CMs. Who progresses the ball from deep and dictates the build-up if Bruno’s the only playmaker? If he has a bad game or is marked out, then that’s that.

Madrid fans are literally crying out for a Kroos replacement for the same reason, even with Guler in the team further forward. Too many box-to-box players who do their best work dribbling rather than passing.
Click to expand...
It's just where football is headed. CBs are getting better and better on the ball, they are more involved in build up and it's not that big a drop off anyway. Valverde is a lot closer to Kroos on the ball than Kroos was to Valverde in other areas. It's like going from a 10/10 passer to an 8/10 but with upside in almost every other area, it's not like Bruno would be in front of Fred and Herrera.
 
That release clause is a concern, if true. Even with his age, you'd think there would be some interest in him in the summer.
 
He better gets that POTY trophy. By far the best player this season and to think he might break the assist record although playing mainly under Amorim is nuts
 
I do think he is a freak of nature looking at his injury record in relation to how he plays every game and always the first person to chase the ball up front including pressing the GK. Its crazy when you think about it.

So I would give him an extension to be honest. To me we cant apply the same rule to him as we did with others. Im not saying his performance wont drop as he ages but to me he seems to be the player whom once you let go he'd still be killing it in another league when hes 35 playing for a top team like Modric did. Then we can prepare his replacement as we go.

Also I dont think any of Omar or Wilcox would agree to letting him go considering they have set 2028 as title target. We will make big purchases on players and reassure him of the ambition. Only 2 years left on what seems to be the make or break of Omar and Wilcox careers at United.
 
Bruno always talks highly of his competitors. He clearly has alot of respect for KDB.
 
Man Utd 3:2 Liverpool
Played some beautiful balls today but really felt this was one of those games where as a captain I feel like he’s not the one in the trenches. So little effort to bring the team to calmness in the second half, spent his time scrapping and arguing with the ref and falling over.
 
Not a great performance but could've had a couple of assists. Did nothing to calm the game down in the second half. It was Mainoo who brought the composure.
 
I hate his habit of pretending to be injured while the rest of the team is under pressure, defending.
 
Really good first half, but felt like he lost his head with the rest of the team in the second. It would be good to see him calm the team more on difficult circumstances, rather than raise the anxiety levels with his petulance.
 
His frustration was pretty obvious, our 2nd half meltdown, and a lot of his chances going to waste got to him. He was seeing red mist for a while there, glad referee didn't book him again for dissent
 
Status
Not open for further replies.