Bruno Fernandes.

Trending stat: Bruno is second to which ex-Red?

Sunday 03 January 2021 17:27

Bruno Fernandes has now registered 33 goal involvements from 30 Premier League appearances, after scoring the winner in Friday’s 2-1 victory over Aston Villa, yet there is one Manchester United legend who can boast a better record than the Portuguese magnifico.

Since joining the Reds from Sporting Lisbon last January, Fernandes has scored 19 goals and tallied 14 assists in the top flight and that is almost unprecedented in history - beaten only by one man...  

A brilliant statistic from Opta shows Andy Cole is the most prolific player across that same number of Premier League games, with an impressive 37 goal contributions.  

Cole’s record was achieved with his former club Newcastle United during the 1993/94 season, when he racked up 26 goals and 11 assists in the first 30 games. 

Reacting to the trending stat via his official Instagram account over the weekend, a modest Coley simply wrote: “Decent!”
United legend Andy Cole contributed 37 goal involvements from his first 30 Premier League appearances with Newcastle.
WHO ELSE IS UP THERE?

Nobody has contributed more than Cole from their first 30 Premier League appearances and Fernandes is a close second, which is a remarkable achievement for our no.18 considering he is not a striker.

Former Sunderland striker Kevin Phillips is third on the list with 30 goal involvements, followed by Manchester City talisman Sergio Aguero on 28.

United icon Eric Cantona is fifth in the eye-catching table with 27 goal involvements, tied alongside Arsenal hitman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

BRUNO WANTS MORE

In a big interview to review 2020, Bruno told us about his target for this season involving goal involvements: “It’s easy when you play in a team like United because there are so many good players around you. They help you to be better and I am here to help them be better. 

“So I think, of course, numbers are really good but it is now that I need to start to improve. It will be more difficult from now and I mean difficult day-by-day and game-by-game because the [opposition] players will know me better.

“Of course, I am really happy to have these numbers and, obviously, it is not easy to get to this point with these numbers but I want to do better and better, more and more. I want to finish the Premier League this season with more goals and assists than games. That would be good.”

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