Manchester United’s January signing Bruno Fernandes must be getting used to receiving high-profiled praise by now. Ex-United legend Rio Ferdinand has become the latest name to draw attention to the impact the Portuguese midfielder has had at his former side.
Fernandes, 25, who joined the Reds for £47m (BBC Sport) in the January transfer window has had an impact comparable perhaps only to Virgil Van Djik’s at Liverpool.
The Portuguese creative midfielder’s latest outing saw him set a Premier League record of becoming the first player to rack up 13 goal contributions in their first 10 league games.
Aside from Fernandes’ individual accolades, fans and pundits have not been shy in highlighting how his impact extends to their squad as a whole. One of those believed to have benefited from Fernandes’ presence is opinion-splitting Paul Pogba.
The French World Cup-winning midfielder has often been the scapegoat for United’s under-performance in recent seasons, however, it is perhaps reasonably to assume that we’re now seeing the very best version of the 27-year old and that much of that credit must go to his midfield partner Fernandes.
According to United legend Rio Ferdinand to spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live, as quoted by Manchester Evening News, Ferdinand said: “What happens is, the boys come off the training pitch and they are talking about ‘the new signing, he’s unbelievable, he’s this, he’s that’.
“Paul will have been sat there thinking, ‘I want to see this, I want to see if this is the truth, if he’s really this good and I believe I’ll be able to play with him’.
“Paul has come in and had a new lease of life where he doesn’t feel as though all the responsibility in terms of the creative aspect is about him and has to go through him – I think that was a big burden on him.”
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