Fernandes comes out on top again
Bruno Fernandes has racked up a fourth Premier League Player of the Month award in record time, equalling Cristiano Ronaldo's tally in the process.
Bruno's Portugal team-mate may have dominated the division during his six seasons at Manchester United but he only gathered four of its individual gongs, something our brilliant midfield man has managed in under a year in England.
Such has been Fernandes's impact, it may be no surprise but, in the overall context of the award, his achievement is pretty significant.
The all-time leading Player-of-the-Month winner, Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero, only has seven which is certainly an achievable target for our no.18. In terms of former Reds, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie are on five - although the Dutchman picked up three of his awards while at Arsenal.
Since its inception in 1994 when Jurgen Klinsmann was the first recipient, United have obviously been well represented but Bruno is racing up the leaderboard at rapid speed. This is already the second time he has won consecutive trophies.
Fernandes's December exploits led to him retaining the prize, as he saw off competition from colleague Marcus Rashford, Emiliano Martinez, Anwar El Ghazi (both Aston Villa), Ben Mee (Burnley), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Tomas Soucek (West Ham) and John Stones (Manchester City).
His second-half display against West Ham United was, in his view, his best since joining the club, he scored twice against Leeds United and he also starred in the 2-2 draw at Leicester City on Boxing Day, finding the net again with a precise finish. In our last game of 2020, he supplied the assist for Rashford's dramatic winner against Wolves at Old Trafford.
"Thank you very much to every fan that voted for me," Bruno said on receiving the trophy at the Aon Training Complex.
The midfielder is preparing for Sunday's huge showdown with Liverpool at Anfield - the first time he has ever faced the Merseysiders in a competitive fixture in his career.