Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has urged the focus to be on the team rather than on him, despite being one of the few players to emerge with credit from last season’s disastrous campaign.
United endured their worst top-flight finish since 1974, ending the Premier League in 15th place.
Fernandes, however, scored 19 goals across all competitions and earned a PFA Player of the Year nomination alongside Mohamed Salah, Alexis Mac Allister, Alexander Isak, Declan Rice and Cole Palmer.
Speaking to ESPN Brasil, the Portugal international said he would rather his personal recognition be replaced by collective success.
“I hope you’ll hear less about Bruno this year, but a lot more about United,” Fernandes said.
“That’s my main objective because my name being spoken, let’s say vaguely alone, it doesn’t fill me with pride or anything.
“United being talked about, being positive, that’s the most important thing and that’s what I want for this season.
“If it happens that Bruno has to score fewer goals, provide less assists or do another type of provision of what is necessary for the games, I would be very happy.”
While last season was one to forget, there is cautious optimism around Old Trafford this summer. The arrivals of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, and Benjamin Sesko have boosted confidence ahead of Sunday’s Premier League opener against Arsenal.
Fernandes shares that optimism, but after more than five years at the club, he knows United fans have experienced plenty of false dawns.
“Every year that I stayed here, every time the season begins, I see this [positivity],” he said.
“I believe that it could be a time of change, where we can do something better.
“Probably my first two seasons were very good, where we really believed that we could go further and do better things. We had a very good season with Erik [Ten Hag] in his first season, then in the second season it wasn’t so good.
“Obviously, now people have joined the club, not just the players, but also staff and management, who have a different vision.
“I hope that all these changes and everything that we have done can bring the club back to the place where it really deserves to be.”
Much of the pre-season buzz has centred around the new attacking trio of Cunha, Mbeumo, and Sesko, as Ruben Amorim looks to fix a side that scored just 44 league goals last term – the fifth-worst in the division.
However, Fernandes insists improvement must come from the whole squad, not just the forwards.
“We have more goals in the team because we know that we didn’t score enough goals last year,” Fernandes said.
“But we also have to know that we have to defend better so as not to suffer as many goals as we conceded last year.
“And when I say defend better, it’s not the defenders, but as a team.
“To know how to suffer, to know how to defend, to know the moments that are necessary to have everyone behind the ball, to have everyone to make recoveries, to have everyone react quickly when we lose it.”
