The winner of the Football Writers’ Footballer of the Year award tends to come from teams who win the Premier League. This has been the case in seven of the last 10 seasons. Only once in that time – when Mo Salah won it playing for fourth-placed Liverpool in 2018 – has it escaped the hands of the top two.
This season that should change. The most influential footballer in the Premier League has been Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United and he already has my vote.
He is not a popular footballer outside of Old Trafford, but then how many United players are? United supporters continue to wear their ABU – Anyone but United – moniker as a badge of honour and with reason.
Fernandes has had his faults for sure and I have written vehemently about them before, specifically in the context of his role as United captain. The 30-year-old still has occasional problems with his temperament and could certainly wave his hands around a little less when things go against him.
But Luis Suarez has won this award before. So has Roy Keane. It’s not a prize handed out to choir boys. It’s about football.
United are 14th in the Premier League and have broken the kind of club records nobody wants. But where would they be without their best player?
Bruno Fernandes has been the most influential player in the Premier League this season
Mohamed Salah has been exceptional, but benefits from being in a side set up to suit his needs
Fernandes may be an unpopular footballer – and could do with flapping his hands about less – but he has maintained his levels in a side that has not done the same
Rio Ferdinand thinks his old club would be in a relegation battle and that’s a stretch. They wouldn’t. Nevertheless Fernandes’ 16 goals and numerous assists do give credence to Ferdinand’s view that: ‘Without him, there’s no hope in terms of the attacking force of this United team.’
And this is one of the things about Fernandes. It’s not just about goals. It’s about big goals and big moments. It’s about contributions that shape and change games of football. It’s about driving a team forward. This is what puts players in the frame for individual awards. At least it should.
Most will disagree with me. Votes will go to Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Declan Rice and maybe Alexander Isak. But it depends how you frame the debate and the reasoning. If it was merely a vote for the best player in the country every year then Kevin De Bruyne would probably have won it for the last five years straight.
Personally, I think it should be much wider than that. It should be about influence – about making a profound difference – and from that point of view Fernandes’ impact on his team this season has been undeniable and as far as I am concerned, greater than that of any other in the top division.
I always think there is one thing that sets great players apart from very good ones. It’s levels. It’s always much easier to play well in a team that’s on a good path. Much harder to keep your levels high when team-mates are letting theirs fall.
That’s something that Keane had. David Beckham had it, too, particularly for England. Maybe Steven Gerrard. Definitely John Terry. Fernandes has this. From that point of view, he has emerged as a leader in the truest sense.
The Portuguese international passes other tests, too. He has been consistent in appearances – missing just one Premier League game – and goals. After a slow start – he didn’t register his first goal until the end of October – he has never gone more than five games without scoring. Fernandes is not a centre forward and plays for a team averaging just one goal (1.15 to be precise) per game in the Premier League.
Then there is environment. My two other contenders for the award are Isak – the Newcastle forward – and Salah, who I suspect will win it. But both have benefited from playing for teams and clubs set up to serve their needs.
Fernandes has missed just one Premier League game and has never gone more than five games without scoring this season
Newcastle’s fabulous striker Alexander Isak is another contender to win the award this season
Fernandes does not have this luxury. He has somehow managed to thrive within chaos. Playing in the current United team must be sapping and there are excuses everywhere for players who want them. United remains a club set up for failure in many ways, unstable at the top, with a new manager and inadequate playing squad. Fernandes has somehow managed to transcend all that.
When minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said earlier this year that too many United players were overpaid and not good enough, who was first to be asked about it? Fernandes.
‘The club agrees the contract at the time you come here,’ he said. Quite.
This is all part of the captain’s load, but that doesn’t mean it’s not heavy. Fernandes revealed recently he could have left last summer. He is paid well, but at times must feel as though he has been desperately let down by others.
At United they told me this week of a player who has grown into his role and standing. One source described him as the ‘glue holding the dressing room together’ while another referenced him as ‘the captain Roy Keane refuses to see’.
Keane has been persistently critical and it is undoubtedly to Fernandes’ credit that there has been no public response.
‘He is incredibly resilient,’ revealed a source close to the dressing room.
‘Sometimes he will take a heavy knock and you will see him limping after a game and think he will miss the next one. But he almost always plays.
The improvement in Fernandes the captain has mirrored his improvement as a United No 10
An insider close to the dressing room has revealed the extent of the United captain’s resilience
He comes up with goals in big games, like his penalty against Lyon deep in added time
‘He is the social connector in the dressing room, the link between different languages and demographic groups. He gets the history of the club, its culture. He has made sure of that. He connects with supporters.
‘When our training ground receptionist, Kath Phipps, died and the players commissioned and displayed a flag in her honour, that was Bruno. It’s what he does. He is our leader in every way.’
None of this necessarily enhances Fernandes’ credentials as a Player of the Year candidate. It’s a football award, after all. But it does play to the greater theme of a player who has embraced his responsibilities. The improvement in Fernandes the captain has undoubtedly mirrored and perhaps even driven his improvement as a United No 10.
I remember watching him behave pretty dreadfully as United were humbled at Liverpool 7-0 two years ago. Another former United captain Gary Neville described him as an embarrassment that day and it was impossible to disagree.
Back then I couldn’t think of a more unsuitable United captain. It goes without saying here, I have gradually changed my mind.
Strange situation in Serie A
If Napoli and Inter finish level on points at the top of Serie A, the league title will not be decided on goal difference but by a play-off game.
That’s great for the TV cameras, but that’s all it is. A league is a league and should be decided as such.
Serie A will be decided by a play-off if Inter Milan and Napoli finish level on points this season
Ian Wright (right) has been accused by Eni Aluko (left) of blocking opportunities for women
Aluko’s grave error
Eni Aluko actually has a point when she says women’s football must ensure it doesn’t clutter its studios with male pundits. If the women’s game doesn’t seek to provide enough opportunities for its own broadcasting talent, then what hope is there?
Aluko’s grave error, though, was to point the finger at Ian Wright. Not only is the former Match of the Day pundit a generous, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and utterly selfless advocate of women’s football, he also happens to be very good at what he does.
He should be a role model for Aluko, not a cause for complaint.
