- Bruno Fernandes loving life at Manchester United
- Portuguese playmaker wishes he’d played alongside Michael Carrick
- Seven games left for Reds’ skipper to hit 20 assists
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has paid homage to interim manager Michael Carrick, admitting he would have loved to play alongside him more than any former player.
Under Carrick’s interim spell, Fernandes has excelled. Ten games, seven wins, two draws, and just a solitary loss.
In those matches, Fernandes has scored three times and provided eight assists. He now sits just four assists away from matching the all-time Premier League record, held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.
With just seven games to go, he has a strong chance to etch his name into history. He’s revealed he’d have loved to have been playing in midfield alongside his current head coach.
Fernandes: Carrick ‘Was Incredible’
Fernandes spoke to Men in Blazers, and was asked if there was one Manchester United player he wished he could play alongside at Old Trafford right now. The Portugal international snubbed Wayne Rooney after he admitted that the club’s all-time record scorer would bench him due to the similar positions that they played in:
“You have many: I won’t say Rooney because he plays kind of in the same position as me. So, I would be on the bench and that’s not fun.”
With Rooney ruled out, Fernandes took a short pause before picking the player:
“I’ve said it many times, but now he’s going to sound, it’s going to sound strange, but I said it many times, Michael Carrick.”
Fernandes then went on to talk about how he would have liked to link up with the English holding midfielder:
“Because I’ve trained with him when he was here under Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] and sometimes he was training with us, you know, as a [number] six, putting the balls between the lines, and he was great.
He added:
“As a [No] 10, you want that ball to come to you as fast as possible. He was incredible in timing the passes, you know, control and pass. Sometimes it’s not about having the ball for so long, but as quick as you can, make your teammate as free as possible.”
“And he was great at doing that. And for me as a 10, having someone behind that knows how to release the ball quickly for me to get the most of the space that I can have, it’s perfect.”
Carrick made 464 appearances for United during his playing career, posting 24 goals and 35 assists. He was part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s dominant era, lifting the Premier League title five times aswell as the Champions League in 2008.
What’s Next for Both?
The next seven games could define Michael Carrick’s managerial career. Deliver in them and guide Manchester United back into the UEFA Champions League, and he puts himself firmly in line for the full-time role.
On the flip side, if it unravels, United could slip back into the UEFA Europa League, and Carrick could miss out on the job.
For Bruno Fernandes, this run could also shape his immediate future. If United fall short and settle for Europa League football, Fernandes enters the final year of his contract—with an option to extend—and the club could risk losing him before he features again on those Wednesday night stages.
