Bruno reflects on his remarkable stats
When we spoke to Bruno Fernandes to mark his two-year anniversary at Manchester United, there was an opportunity to discuss the remarkable figures he has racked up in his short time at Old Trafford.
The Portugal international's goal contributions compare favourably to his Premier League peers and it is something that is not lost on a player who clearly loves the game and is a student of football, watching and analysing other matches and players.
Our no. 18 scored again in the 2-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion, clinching victory with a 97th-minute strike. He loves a late goal against the Seagulls!
And he could have had an assist when setting up a couple of headers for Cristiano Ronaldo that were unlucky not to find the net.
When sitting down with Bruno last month, at the time only Liverpool's Mohamed Salah had more combined goals and assists (63) to his 55, since his debut in the division against Wolves. Perhaps even more remarkably, only Salah and Tottenham striker Harry Kane had scored more times than the reigning United Player of the Year in that period.
If we look at the last two seasons, Bruno has closed on Kane for goal involvements with Salah out in front and the likes of Manchester City's Raheem Sterling and Spurs star Son Heung-min further down the rankings.
TOP GOAL INVOLVEMENTS IN LAST TWO SEASONS
Premier League 20/21 + 21/22
1. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) - 27 + 25 = 52
2. Harry Kane (Tottenham) - 37 + 7 = 44
3. Bruno Fernandes (United) - 30 + 13 = 43
So we asked Bruno if he was aware of all of these stats, including the fact he'd made the most key passes and played more through balls than anybody else in the Premier League in the past two campaigns, and he replied: “No, sometimes when we’re in the training ground, we always have the TV on and sometimes those kind of stats come out but I’m not really worried about that.
“Of course, for myself, I want to have my stats better than last season. I always want to do better than before and also want to try to do more goals and assists, create more chances for my team-mates and everything. But not really, the most important is what you do on the pitch and show you are doing that game by game and always improving.
"It’s obviously an honour to be on that list, of course, since I came and being in comparison with Harry Kane, scoring lots of goals last season," he continued.
"He was playmaker of the season by one assist and Mo Salah has been fantastic, scoring lots of goals. So being in that list with him for goal involvements, goals and assists or whatever, is always a pleasure.
"It makes you proud of what you are doing as I know there’s much more to come yet. I think I can do much better and I will, for sure."
Hopefully, that continues against Leeds United on Sunday, an opponent Bruno has scored the most times against in his United career, along with Aston Villa.