These stats highlight Bruno’s all-round game

Fernandes has led by example in his first campaign as the men’s permanent captain and finished the term by lifting the Emirates FA Cup on Saturday, having helped United to defeat Manchester City in the final at Wembley Stadium.

Bruno teed up Kobbie Mainoo’s decisive effort in the 2-1 victory, a fitting final goal involvement of what has been another statistically strong season for the Portuguese midfielder.

While numbers may not be the be all and end all, as the playmaker has previously acknowledged to us, Fernandes can take pride in his success across several different categories in 2023/24.

With the help of WhoScored.com and the Premier League, we've rounded up our favourite data pick-outs from the term just gone. As you can see, they highlight the all-round nature of the 29-year-old’s game and back up why he was voted by the fans as our star performer.

RACKING UP THE NUMBERS

Bruno's 15 goals and 13 assists across all competitions for the club this season means he tallied the most direct scoring contributions (28) of any Red in 2023/24. Only Rasmus Hojlund netted more times than the skipper, while the 13 strikes that he set up was enough to earn him United’s creativity crown for a fourth successive campaign.

In the league alone, Bruno produced team-leading tallies for goals (10) and assists (eight) across 35 starts – the joint-most among our outfield players. 

LEADING FROM THE FRONT

In his first term as Erik ten Hag’s full-time custodian of the captaincy, the midfielder was consistently there to stand up and be counted. When it came to scoring in the Premier League, fascinatingly all 10 of his strikes in the competition were either equalisers or go-ahead goals (five of each). Bruno put United back on terms in matches against Chelsea, Liverpool, Bournemouth (twice) and Sheffield United, and nudged the Reds ahead against the latter, as well as Nottingham Forest, Burnley, Fulham and Everton.

PLAYMAKING PROWESS

Fernandes’s bread and butter as an attacking midfielder comes in the form of creativity and, while he excelled in other areas of his game too, the Reds’ no.8 continued to perform to a high level in this category. Bruno made more key passes in the Premier League (114) and FA Cup (31) than any other player in those two competitions, as well as producing six clear-cut goalscoring chances in our triumphant FA Cup run - another tournament chart-topper in 2023/24.

DEFENSIVE DUTIES

While he may thrive on the ball, the United captain also made notable contributions for the Reds out of possession too. In the FA Cup, no player across the entirety of the 2023/24 competition made more tackles than our attacking midfielder’s 19, between the third-round victory at Wigan and last weekend’s Wembley win over Man City in the final. 

HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE

You do not need statistics to outline how hard Fernandes works on the pitch, but there is numerical evidence to back up the skipper’s supercharged playing persona. Across his 35 league appearances this season, Fernandes covered a massive 390.39 kilometres, more than any other United player.