Much like the captain himself!
But I've been seeing this do the rounds across the interweb in which people have been discussing whether the current United skipper should be considered a legend of the club.
We first have to ask ourselves, what consistutes a legend?
For me, there are several factors:
- Quality as a player
- Impact to the team
- Winning mindset
- Longevity (to a certain extent)
- Success
When you think legend of Man Utd, there are quite a few players that come to mind. Whomever that is, you got to ask yourself whether Bruno Fernandes is on the same level as that player to be considered a legend.
Let me give you an example.
Man Utd legend - Wayne Rooney
Does Bruno Fernandes live up to that?
For me, no, no he doesn't. I don't think Bruno is a legend of our club.
This doesn't mean I think he's a terrible player, God no he's been our best player since he arrived in 2020!
The magnifico actually ticks a lot of those boxes I mentioned. He is most definitely a top quality player, the impact he has in the side is best seen on the rare occassions he isn't in it, you can never question his mindset, attitude and love for the club, he has been at United long enough, but when it comes to success, all the skipper has won is a Carabao Cup and FA Cup in his five years at Old Trafford.
Now before anyone starts crying and saying that this is because he's been part of the worst MUFC sides we've ever seen - which I don't disagree with - and that that isn't his fault, he still hasn't won major trophies all the same.
You could say that maybe he is unfortunate to have joined the club when he did. Right man, wrong time sort of thing.
But he did join when he did and he has not won major trophies whether because of things in his control or not.
Bruno has many aspects to his game and personality that I really like as he is a leader, he does try to help his teammates whenever he can, he is always available (like, fucking A L W A Y S) and he plays every minute of almost every game which can go beyond the 90 minutes. United on average since he came, play pretty much every three to four days.
How he manages this workload whilst maintaining that energy is not something I've seen before. That is beyond belief.
As the captain, he leads the team better than most in that squad could.
Nevertheless, the other side of him can be quite petulant and whiny and crybaby-like which can come across as very annoying for all watching. That's not really something you want to see from your captain.
Bruno is also a bit too il-discipline as he can appear everywhere and nowhere despite being a versatile player although that positional discipline has improved in recent weeks.
For a player of his experience and quality, I also find him to be too inconsistent. While the past month or two has been his best period this season, people often forget that for the most part of the campaign, he was very average with there even being talk about perhaps it's time for him to be moved on 👀.
The 30-year-old can be very irritating in that he tries to do too much and go for the spectacular more than he should. The term 'Hollywood' pass came about because of him as he has this habit of going for something extravagent more often than not. This results in the side losing possession cheaply and with our inability to win the ball back quickly, we'd rather he try to keep things more simple.
People will quite rightly say that without Bruno, wehre is the creativity? As frustrating as he can be the team lacks in chance creation without the magnifico. Since the 20/21 season, Bruno has created the most chances in the Premier League with 475. The next best in Kevin de Bruyne on 358.
Mentioning Man City's version of Bruno, KDB has said that United's captain is a "creative machine" when doing a ranking of other attacking midfielders in the league. City's talisman actually put Bruno at the top of a three man list that included Arsenal's captain Martin Odegaard and Spurs' number 10 James Maddison. This was at the start of last season. I doubt much would've changed in terms of his opinion since.
Fernandes is a bit of a stat-padder if we're being honest, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I am more someone who judges a player's performance by watching how they perform on the field rather than looking at their numbers during a game. Stats can sometimes mask those performances which is what I believe has happened in some of Bruno's recent displays.
He's been given high ratings for matches where he did pretty much fuck all other than score a goal or get an assist. His overall performance was dreadful but thanks to that output, 7 or 8 out of 10. The Everton draw is a good example.
Nonetheless, the numbers he has put up simply cannot be overlooked.
In his 277 matches for United, Bruno has a total of 95 goals and 81 assists. That means that he either scores or assists in 63% of the games he's played. 63%!
That is a ridiculous output.
He was the highest scorer in the 20/21 season with 28 goals and currently tops that chart again this year with 16 to his name. Add his assists to this and he'll most likely be at the top of the table for goals and assists since 19/20.
This is all for a player who is doing it in a side that is the worst we've ever seen and one that misses so many chances that he creates which would push his already incredible stats to another level.
Some would say he deserves legend status just for that!
With all that being said though, I find that the major problem along with not being too successful is that our fan base are always at each other in terms of arguing over whether Bruno is as good as some say. When you have to defend a player in this sense that to me suggests one that isn't at that level we may think.
As mentioned earlier, there were rumors that maybe he should be sold because he can be quite inconsistent, or that is the reason I think many felt this way.
Legends don't cause this back and forth between fans. Some few yes especially those that have agendas against certain players but when it is a large amount, then it is a problem.
I really like Bruno, he is one of my favorite current players but I think he is at the level just before legend, a United great. Should he win the Premier League and/or Champions League though, he will most definitely be a legend.
What do you reckon though? Is Bruno magnifico an MUFC legend or not? Or at least, not yet.
Background Image: Bruno Fernandes | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)