Bruno Fernandes was recently named the Football Writers’ Association (men’s) Footballer of the Year. The Manchester United midfielder has been superb in 2025/26 and looks set to help his side to their highest finish since 2022/23. That is not all that long ago, but the intervening campaigns have seen the Red Devils finish eighth and, last term, down in 15th position, so it is a huge step forward.
Bruno may be hated by many non-United fans, and even his own supporters are sometimes not fond of his histrionics. However, there can be no doubting what a fine footballer he is. There are various individual awards handed out each season in England. Judging just where the FWA prize sits in terms of prestige is hard to say, but the Portuguese star will no doubt be thrilled to add it to his collection of individual honours.
He won the equivalent award twice in Portugal, in 2017/18 and 2018/19, also making the Primeira Team of the Year in both campaigns. In English football, he made the PFA Team of the Year in 2020/21 and has won various awards as United’s best player, including the Players’ Player of the Year in 2024/25 and the Sir Matt Busby prize (voted for by United fans) on four occasions.
2025/26 His Best Yet?
There are two games of the current campaign remaining. United will face Forest at home and Brighton away. The Red Devils will want to sign off at Old Trafford with a big win, and against opponents no longer fighting for PL survival, they may be able to put on a show. No matter what, Bruno will be hungry to add to his impressive stats this term over the final two matches of a great campaign.
As things stand, the Portuguese international is well shy of the incredible 28 goals he scored in the 2020/21 campaign. He was the club’s leading scorer then in all competitions, as he was last term with the more modest total of 19. This term, he has got nowhere near that tally and has scored just eight times for United, all in the PL. And yet it may still be the best he has ever played for the club.
In terms of playing time, it has been perhaps the easiest campaign of Bruno’s career. United were not involved in European action, and they were eliminated in the first round of both the FA Cup and League Cup (well, their first round). However, despite playing just 35 times for United, Fernandes has racked up an astonishing 21 assists. Twenty of those have come in his 33 PL appearances to date at a rate of an assist every 144 minutes of football.
Overall, he boasts 29 goal involvements from 35 matches in all competitions, scoring or assisting every 104 minutes on average. Those are elite numbers and have been achieved with a United side that, whilst probably outperforming the expectations of many, remains far from elite. What’s more, he spent the first part of the campaign playing in a deeper role than we are used to seeing him.
Under Ruben Amorim, he was primarily used as a central midfielder. He produced five goals and six assists in 16 games playing in this position. However, playing a little further forward, his goal involvements jump from around two in three games to almost one per match. Nineteen outings playing more as a number 10 have yielded 18 goal involvements, even if just three have those have been goals scored by Bruno himself.
Other Key Stats
Bruno’s incredible tally of assists is the most striking aspect of his season from a statistical perspective. However, he has also excelled in terms of other data metrics. The stats above are taken from transfermarkt, with his numbers slightly different according to the official PL site, who credit him with one assist fewer. That means he needs one assist from his final two games to match the official Premier League record of 20 (jointly held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne).
Looking at those official stats, we can see that Bruno has hit the woodwork five times, with only Erling Haaland doing so more (six times). That might be viewed negatively, but it shows that the United star’s stats could be even more impressive and also that he has been getting in the right positions. Bruno has also played the most through balls, 37, in the PL, with the next best being 25, while he also easily has the best expected assists in the competition. His tally is around 40% greater than Rayan Cherki’s in second, illustrating that his assists are not flukes that are down to superior finishing by his strikers.
The FWA Footballer of the Year also leads the way – and by huge distances – in two important areas where the PL does not keep official stats. He has created 30 “big chances” this term and 124 chances. Cherki is second in the former with just 18, while Dominik Szoboszlai trails in the latter with just 68, only just over half as many as Bruno.
The attacking midfielder may yet win more individual awards, and he is favourite for the PFA prize. He may miss out if Arsenal manage to complete the league and CL double, but no matter what happens from here on in, 2025/26 has been a truly stellar campaign for the United man.
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