Fernandes joined United from Sporting in January 2020 for a fee of £67.7 million. He has gone on to score 49 goals and assist 39 times in 116 appearances for the Red Devils.
This includes goals in back-to-back Premier League victories over Brighton and Leeds in February.
Fernandes is vying for a starting spot in United’s Champions League match against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. After the first leg in Madrid, the tie in the last 16 is tied at 1-1.
Fernandes recently caught Covid and was instantly ruled out of the European match. However, Ralf Rangnick has stated that Portugal international is now available following a negative test result.
Silas, Fernandes’ old boss at Sporting, spoke with Spanish site Marca ahead of the match. Sport Witness translates the interview, which also reveals that Atletico Madrid was interested in signing Fernandes before to his sale to Manchester United.
Silas described Fernandes as a “Atletico player.” “It’s brutal and incredibly competitive.” We reached an agreement with him, and he left in January.
Bruno Fernandes is difficult to replace at Sporting.
“It was a crushing blow. We tragically lost [him] in the middle of the year. It wasn’t easy to come up with a quick solution for that.”
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Silas went on to say that one of the main reasons Fernandes has been so successful in England is because of his linguistic skills.
“Bruno has some personality traits that benefit him a lot. He is a really outgoing person. He is obsessed with football and constantly talks about it.
“He speaks Portuguese, Italian, English, and Spanish fluently.” He has a natural ear for language. It allows him to adjust to the Premier League.”
27-year-old Fernandes was then compared to legendary United midfielder Paul Scholes, who won 11 Premier League titles during his brilliant stint at the Theatre of Dreams.
“Bruno is a footballer who is difficult to stop.” “He’s not like [Lionel] Messi, who dribbles around you,” Silas continued.
“Bruno is dangerous when you can’t see him. He hits the ball quite well when the ball falls to him and there is no one in front of him. With the right, and then with the left. It makes me think of [Paul] Scholes.
“Giving him two meters is like giving him a penalty.” He’s amazing. Direct free kicks… his kicks are fantastic. He works well with others. He won’t dribble past three, but if he catches it on the edge, he’s deadly. He also has a fantastic last pass and works quite well.”
