Bruno Fernandes has become even more Marmite since being named Manchester United’s captain.
As talented as he is frustrating, the midfielder is often an attacking powerhouse and leads by example.
4
But when things go wrong, they can go wrong very quickly, with Fernandes infamously called ‘embarrassing’ by Gary Neville for his antics in a record 7-0 defeat to Liverpool last season.
In a 3-0 win over Everton, Fernandes took a backseat role as Alejandro Garnacho scored what will likely be the Premier League’s goal of the season.
Later on, he handed over his penalty duties to Marcus Rashford, something which earned him praise from Erik ten Hag for showing ‘great leadership’.
Club great Roy Keane fumed at the praise post-match, and Fernandes later took more headlines for attending a post-match interview with Garnacho and saying he has ‘high expectations’ of the youngster who ‘isn’t a great player yet’.
read more on bruno fernandes
Such interjections shifted the spotlight back onto Fernandes, who became a subject when United legend Paul Ince joined talkSPORT.
Ince was asked if he would have liked to have been led by the midfielder and replied: “No, I don't think so.
“Captains are completely different nowadays, you talk about the greats like Bryan Robson, Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira, Tony Adams, people like that, stand-out leaders.
“Some people are different, [David] Beckham was a leader with the way that he played, he wasn’t very talkative but he was a leader because of the way he played.
Most read in Football
4
“I don’t know what I see in Fernandes, is he a leader in the way that he plays? Because I feel like at the moment he’s not playing to the best of his ability, yes he scored the winner against Fulham but as a captain you do it by organisation.
“I as a captain always felt that if I wasn’t playing well make sure the people around you are playing well because it shows how bad you’re playing.
“That’s part of being a captain, knowing your players and getting the best out of them. I think when you look at Fernandes it’s just about him, when he’s not playing well you can see it in his body language when he argues with referees.”
Fernandes took the armband permanently during the summer after spending 2022/23 as a de-facto captain ahead of the benched Harry Maguire.
4
This term he leads United in attacking output with four goals and four assists, more than any other teammate, but it’s not all good news.
Stats show that with Fernandes as captain United have a win rate of 51 per cent, which increases to 57 per cent when he doesn’t have the armband.
Ten Hag likely won’t be changing his mind any time soon, particularly after publicly stripping Maguire of the captaincy, but nevertheless, the spotlight will continue to be shone on Fernandes, whether he likes it or not.
4
Fernandes himself even addressed the criticism of his captaincy before he leads United against Galatasaray in the Champions League.
He said: "Obviously you don’t like to be criticised, everyone is the same, but at the same time I have to do what I think is the best for my team.
"It is quite normal when you play for Manchester United you are going to get criticised, even if you do well or bad, if you do the wrong or the right thing.
Read More on talkSPORT
"I just have to deal with that, it is normal since I arrived at the club. In the beginning was everything perfect, because when you arrive in the first game if you do something different than anyone else is doing, is gonna be all flowers.
"But after that I understand the tough part is always coming, because when the result is not coming, when the performance are not what everyone expects to be, because the expectations are always higher and higher."