Captain Bruno Fernandes extends contract ahead of Manchester United’s season opener
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Man United's Bruno Fernandes (left) vying for the ball with Man City’s Mateo Kovacic during the Community Shield at Wembley on Aug 10. City won on penalties after the match ended 1-1.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
MANCHESTER – Manchester United received a boost ahead of their English Premier League opener against Fulham on Aug 16 after captain Bruno Fernandes agreed to a contract extension that will keep him at the club until June 2027, with the option to extend for another year.
The Portuguese has been United’s rare unqualified transfer success in recent seasons, and there was some worry he would leave after intimating as much in an interview in April.
Fernandes, who joined from Sporting Lisbon in 2020, scored 15 goals and provided 13 assists in his 48 matches for United last season. The 29-year-old playmaker has bagged 79 goals during his 4½ seasons at Old Trafford and was named captain by manager Erik ten Hag ahead of the start of last season.
Fulham manager Marco Silva said of his compatriot: “Fernandes is a top player. I think he’s one of the crucial players for them.
“He is their captain, he is one of players with the most assists in this championship in the last three or four seasons. Every time he’s on the pitch, he can make an impact.
“He can score goals, can make assists. He’s a is a player with the knowledge about the game at a really, really high level... Every single moment of the game, Bruno can be decisive on the ball and off the ball... He can decide a match in any moment of the game.”
While Fernandes has shone relatively consistently, Marcus Rashford has been up and down in recent seasons.
Sandwiched between an outstanding 2022-23 campaign during which he scored a career-best 30 goals, he had below-par seasons in 2021-22 and last term, when his poor form meant he went from being an England regular to missing out on their Euro 2024 squad as they reached the final in Germany.
Former Rangers and Scotland striker Ally McCoist told talkSport: “It’s a massive season for Marcus Rashford... I think he’s at a crossroads.
“He’s clearly disappointed in his own level of performance last year and deservedly, in my opinion, missed out on the England Euro squad. There’s a big question mark about his future and how he’s going to react to it, so it’s a massive season for him.”
While the 26-year-old forward will be fit for Fulham, United will be without injured defenders Leny Yoro, Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia and Victor Lindelof as well as striker Rasmus Hojlund.
Said ten Hag on Aug 15: “(The) team is not ready but the league starts. More managers have to deal with this problem, we definitely have this problem. But we have some rules, some principles, we have to make a start, can’t hide, we can’t run away from it, we have to deal with it...
“We know we create many chances, it’s about composure, more clinical. In both boxes it will be an attention point in the coming weeks and months to improve. We need too many chances.”
Adding spice to the opener, ten Hag will be going head-to-head with one of the contenders to replace him in Silva.
Multiple outlets reported that the United hierarchy held face-to-face talks with the Portuguese before eventually deciding to stick with ten Hag.
While United have lost just one of their last five meetings against Fulham, Silva’s side have largely pushed the Red Devils close.
Fulham beat United 2-1 at Old Trafford last season, and only an injury-time Fernandes winner earned ten Hag’s men a 1-0 triumph in the reverse fixture.
In fact, all but one of the teams’ last five meetings was decided by a single goal. And even in that outlier, an FA Cup quarter-final in March 2023, Fulham were by far the better side and 1-0 ahead 16 minutes from time before Willian and Aleksandar Mitrovic were sent off, allowing United to prevail 3-1.
Said Silva: “The last two seasons, every time we play against United, the games have always been decided by fine margins. The reality is that we have always given them a match. This is the way we play.”
Fulham have no injury concerns but they have lost Joao Palhinha, one of the top defensive midfielders in recent seasons, key defender Tosin Adarabioyo, his regular centre-back partner Tim Ream as well as attacker Bobby de Cordova-Reid.
Silva said the exits represent “the spine of the team” and his side had added Emile Smith Rowe, Jorge Cuenca and Ryan Sessegnon to plug the gaps.
