Bruno Fernandes admits he is a player who will always wear his heart on his sleeve.
His devilish grin after putting another chance on a plate for a team-mate has been the script to Manchester United‘s rollercoaster season. But there have been times when Fernandes’ frustration has been obvious when it has not gone United’s way. United are set to return to the Champions League next season but crashed out of the domestic cups this season and were not in Europe.
They have changed manager, as Ruben Amorim left before Michael Carrick helped revive the whole season and if there was a scowl on Fernandes’ face before, he is smiling again now. He is so passionate about United, about his connection with the club and the fans.
That is why Fernandes always wants the best for United and it is what drives him. He is as hungry as ever for success. That is what sets him aside as a special player, person and captain.
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Fernandes, 31, said: “I am very bad at hiding my emotions! I really show what I feel and I’m not afraid of it. Some people take it one way, positive and others take it negatively. But I can’t change the way I am. It’s phrased on me and it’s not something I can change from one day to the other. I can’t just become a different person.
“You can adapt yourself, you can improve, you can learn and I’m doing that every day. Obviously, you can become a better player, a better person, a better captain, a better teammate and I will always try to do that until the end of my career.
“You feel like it’s very tough especially if you are at a club for a long time, sometimes people want to see new faces, new people coming in trying to win and replicate things that were done in the past by other players.
“But I really feel the love and support from the fans every time I step out onto the pitch at Old Trafford because they believe in me as one of their own and I always try and replicate for them what they have seen so many times coming in to Old Trafford. I just try and do the best I can to make them proud while at the same time making sure we are as successful as possible.”
Bruno Fernandes wears his heart on his sleeve(Image: Alfie Cosgrove/Getty Images)
United’s glory days are a constant reminder of past success but they also serve as an inspiration to the current team to get back to winning major trophies.
Fernandes has won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup with United but clearly he wants more. And he is honoured to join the likes of Wayne Rooney, George Best, Sir Bobby Charlton, Cristiano Ronaldo, Teddy Sheringham and Roy Keane in winning the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year.
But he is desperate to also follow in the footsteps of those legends by winning the biggest trophies.
He said: “I want to achieve everything that those players achieved in terms of winning with the club. But being in their company with this award is massively important for me and I won’t hide from that. It will always be the prize for me. That’s always what my goal has been. I’ve never hidden from that. As I said before, I’m not very good at hiding things!
“I speak out whenever I want on what I want to achieve and what I want to achieve is winning the league and winning the Champions League.”
Bruno Fernandes has 19 assists in the Premier League this season(Image: 2026 CameraSport)
There have been 19 assists – and there are still two more games to beat the record. There have been some amazing assists. Surely his pass to Bryan Mbeumo – after a driving run from midfield – in the Manchester derby must be right up there with the best?
Fernandes added: “From this season, I have a lot of them that I like. People talk about the set-pieces a lot and many have come from set-pieces and when you see Casemiro scoring a goal or from a header he tells me exactly where he wants me to put the ball.
“Sometimes it’s more difficult than to make that run that I did for 40 or 50 metres thinking about trying to move the centre back, trying to get him to move on the wrong side to give more space to Bryan. Sometimes it’s more difficult because you have to put the ball exactly where you want – and he still has to have the quality to head it in – in the same way that Bryan had to put the ball in.
“But in terms of certain aspects of the game, changing managers, difficult weeks – we had two games before that which were not going our way – we had Burnley away, we were winning but then we got knocked out of the FA Cup and then we had to play City at home who we know are big rivals for us.
“Also it is such an important game, an important game for us to turn things around and do different things this season.”
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