In the mid-2000s, a reputed scout of Portugal’s most famous club, Porto, turned up at the doors of a modest lodging in Gueifaes – a district on the outskirts of Maia, 15 minutes from Porto. He told the puzzled parents that they wanted to enrol their son, Bruno, at the academy. But Bruno refused to join the most storied and successful football club in the country and signed for Boavista, a mid-table club that got relegated during his time, only because they promised to send a minibus from home to the academy.
That’s the story of his life career. He takes the path less travelled, spurning roads that most would hit with eyes shut. At Porto, he could have attracted the eyes of talent scouts from across Europe. At Boavista no one bothered. But Fernandes was happy because he could play in the first team more often. Years later, his unemployed parents insisted on him migrating with them to Switzerland. But Fernandes declined and even threatened to run away from the house. “In Switzerland, they don’t know how to play football,” he told his parents, who eventually relented to his wishes.
The circuitous nature of his footballing journey continued. In 2012, he joined the newly-promoted Novara FC, a club in northwest Italy, who though, were relegated at the end of the season. But he found admirers in Udinese, whom he joined next year. Four more years in Italy, with a fruitful stint in Sampordia and at the age of 21, he returned to his country of birth, signing for Sporting CP. Three years later, snubbing offers from a raft of European powerhouses, he chose Manchester United, a club in endless turmoil, one slipping down the gorge of chaos and living in its past.
Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes (8) scores his side’s opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
In the next five, he played under four managers, with distinct personalities and philosophies, and deputing him in diverse roles. Yet, the only constant during their reign has been the centrality of Fernandes. In each of the United iterations in this span, he has been the attacking fulcrum, the heart, mind and legs of a club swiftly transforming into a heritage site. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer primarily deputed him as a No 10, a semiclassical playmaker who hatched and scored goals. The interim gaffer Ralf Rangnick gave him a deeper No 8 role, so that the team could better utilise his supreme vision and passing skills. Erik Ten Hag put him into a deeper playmaking role, before installing him in a variety of positions from false nine to right winger, and playmaker. Ruben Amorim, the latest, is seeing him as central midfielder, but with the licence to maraud upfront. “Sometimes we need Bruno higher up the pitch to be nearer the goal but sometimes we need Bruno also building up,” Amorim would say, summing his importance.
This observation explains why managers have installed him in different positions. It is not because he is such an enigma that they don’t know his best position, but he is so gifted that he could adapt to any position. He is the best in most departments—passer, presser, ball carrier, creator, and goal scorer. Since he landed, no one has created as many chances as he had in the league. He sits second in the most big chances created in the league, and third on the assist and goal involvement charts. Add the haul of 91 goals in 275 games and the immense work rate, running and running he can no longer run, he undoubtedly inhabits the elite zone in the Premier League.
There is something intangible about his game. He brings energy, desire and doggedness, apart from supreme vision and imagination. The over-enthusiasm that has landed him in the referee’s book multiple times this season, the annoying theatrics and overreactions, the petulance and preening, come with the Bruno package. But forgive the flaws and here is a wondrous player with a vast repertoire of skills to be enjoyed.
The free-kick goal against Arsenal that secured a 1-1 draw was just another simple piece of skill polished to perfection. He is also one of the few torchbearers of that tough and fading art of one-touch passing. He can score goals many ways—head, volley, half-volley, chip, drive, tap in, toe-poke. He can weave a pass differently—flick, feint, nudge, or sweep. He takes corners, penalties and free-kicks. He tussles and tackles, intercepts and recovers, making a perfect modern-day footballer. He rarely gets injured (just four games in five years) or tired. “When I was a kid I played maybe seven or eight hours a day. So, to play 90 minutes every three days or two days is not enough for me,” he once explained.
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One of his long-time admirers is Pep Guardiola, who recently extolled his virtues. “He is an exceptional player. Especially the consistency of the player, in every single game in every single competition – I admire that a lot. He’s a guy when he has the ball something is going to happen – from free-kicks, set pieces, actions with the players up front,” he observed.
He could have stormed into most teams in the world, into any system and role, and has a long list of suitors behind him. He could have won more trophies and awards, but he remains devoted to Manchester United, where he would be considered their greatest player in the poorest era, the man that carried them on his back in their ailing years. But that’s the path Fernandes has always taken—the path less travelled.