- Manchester United midfielder wins Football Writers’ Association player of the year
- First United winner since 2010
- What Michael Carrick had to say
Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes won the Football Writers’ Association Men’s Footballer of the Year award for the 2025/26 season.
It marks the first time since 2010 that a United player has claimed the honour, whilst also ending the recent dominance of Liverpool and Manchester City players, with Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante the last player outside those two clubs to win the award.
The Portuguese playmaker edged an incredibly tight race, beating Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice by just 28 votes. Fernandes collected 45 per cent of the 900-plus votes cast, whilst Erling Haaland finished in third place.
Manchester City striker Bunny Shaw claimed the women’s award—becoming the first Jamaican to do so—and the Manchester pair will receive their honours at the annual Footballer of the Year dinner in London on May 19.
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‘Fully Deserving’ – Carrick on Fernandes
Carrick was full of praise for Fernandes after receiving the FWA Player of the Year award. He told Sky Sports:
“It’s fantastic, I’m delighted for Bruno, he fully deserves it.”
He added:
“[An] award judged over such a long period of time… I think whoever gets it is fully deserving of it, and I think Bruno this season that he’s had and certainly since I’ve been here, how he’s performed and the impact he’s had on the group has been fantastic. So yeah, fully deserved and delighted that he’s got an award like that and he’s one of ours.”
Carrick then went on to speak about Fernandes entering the finest form of his career, even at 32 years old:
“I think it gets to a stage in your career where you evolve and you learn, and probably, 29, 30, 31, 32 you’re in a really good place, you’ve gained a lot of experience physically you’re in probably your peak. He’s shown that, he’s in his best years and the level of performances has been as the award shows, better than most.”
Under Carrick, Fernandes has exploded into another level. Not to say he lacked importance under Ruben Amorim, but United’s captain has produced 12 of his 19 assists under Carrick in just 14 matches.
Back in his preferred attacking midfield role, Fernandes has received far more freedom to operate as a roaming playmaker, and his assist tally has rocketed because of it.
Under Amorim’s 3-4-3 system, Fernandes often dropped deeper and carried heavier defensive responsibility.
Inside Carrick’s 4-2-3-1, he still fulfils his defensive duties, but Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo now sit behind him and give him the platform to dictate matches further forward.
A Magical Season
There is no doubt Fernandes deserves this award. Elusive and relentless, he has become the heartbeat behind United’s transformation from a side that staggered to 15th place last season into one now fighting amongst the Premier League elite again.
You could still argue that Declan Rice or Gabriel Magalhaes would have stood as worthy winners, too. But when you look at Fernandes’ numbers and his all-round influence, it becomes incredibly difficult to argue against United’s captain taking home the prize.
Some fans will point toward the fact he did not win the Premier League this season. But 15 of the previous 34 winners before Fernandes also failed to win the league in their respective campaigns.
United have now produced seven winners in the Premier League era—still six fewer than their title count. Fernandes deserves this because without him, United simply would not be where they are today.
Yes, Rice, Haaland, Gabriel and countless other stars remain crucial to their respective sides. But remove Fernandes from this United team and the collapse would feel far steeper.
Nineteen assists—just one shy of the elusive 20-assist record Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne share. He’s created 120 chances, including 29 big chances created.
Fernandes has nearly doubled second place in both metrics, with Dominik Szoboszlai sitting on 65 chances created and Rayan Cherki producing 15 big chances created.
