Can Bruno Fernandes become the true No. 8 that Amorim needs at United?
After rejecting a move to the Saudi Pro League, Bruno Fernandes could have a different role for Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United team this season.
As bad as Manchester United’s 2025/26 season was, it would have been even worse had it not been for Bruno Fernandes. The Portuguese’s goals and assists were worth 12 points to the Old Trafford outfit, a total that was the difference between 15th place and a genuine fight against relegation from the Premier League.
Of course, Fernandes has long been United’s lifeline. He is the only slam dunk signing made by the club in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson age, consistently performing at a level that nobody else at Old Trafford has been able to match. It’s no wonder the 30-year-old considered leaving for Saudi Arabia earlier in the summer.
Even after deciding to stay at Manchester United, though, Fernandes could find that the landscape has shifted beneath his feet. With Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo in the door, Ruben Amorim needs his best player to adapt. He needs Fernandes to be the number eight he wears on his back.
Last season made clear United’s desperate need to improve their attack. A total of just 44 goals in 38 league games was reflective of a team lacking ideas in the final third and so the Old Trafford club moved quickly to address this, spending £130m to bring in Cunha and Mbeumo after the pair combined for 35 goals in the Premier League last term.
In Amorim’s system, Cunha and Mbeumo will be a good fit for the two attacking positions behind the centre forward. From there, the pair will have the freedom to find space with Cunha most comfortable attacking from the left and Mbeumo at his best when he can operate down the right side.
This, however, doesn’t do much to accommodate Fernandes as an attacker, meaning the 30-year-old could be pushed deeper into midfield where Manchester United need a number eight. Fernandes could be about to move into a new phase of his career with Amorim providing some early indications of his different role.
In United’s first pre-season friendly against Leeds United, Fernandes was deployed in central midfield. The Portuguese was partnered with Casemiro in the centre of the pitch with Toby Collyer and Cunha played in a more advanced role as dual notional 10s. Fernandes was the pace-setter in the middle of the pitch.
Fernandes could potentially have the skill set to make his new role work. He completed more passes per 90 minutes (49) than any other Manchester United midfielder last season. He also created more chances (91) than any of his teammates with his progressive passing among the best of any other player’s in the Premier League.
Defensively, Fernandes ranked sixth in the United squad for tackles per 90 minutes last season, but his positional awareness has been questioned in the past. The Portuguese might not have the quality against the ball to operate as a true two-way number eight, making it all the more important Amorim finds him the right midfield partner.
Casemiro started against Leeds, but Manuel Ugarte is another defensive-minded midfielder who could mask some of Fernandes’ deficiencies although the Uruguayan endured a difficult first season in the Premier League. Kobbie Mainoo is another option available to Amorim with the England international one of Manchester United’s most mobile players.
United’s midfield has been a conundrum for years. Paul Pogba was meant to be the club’s next great central operator after the likes of Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick, but never lived up to his billing. Donny van de Beek, Nemanja Matić, Fred, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Marouane Fellaini, Morgan Schneiderlin and Nick Powell all came and went without making much of an impression. Casemiro, Mason Mount and Ugarte remain, but have similarly struggled.
Manchester United’s summer window has been slower than Amorim surely would have liked. Cunha was signed quickly, but negotiations with Brentford over Mbeumo’s transfer took over a month with the Cameroonian only announced as a United player on Monday. The club seems incapable of working on more than a single deal at any one time.
It’s not just incoming transfers Manchester United must hurry along, but outgoing ones too. Marcus Rashford is on his way to Barcelona on loan with Juventus interested in Jadon Sancho, but a solution is needed for the rest of the so-called ‘Bomb Squad’ who are training separate to the rest of Amorim’s core group. They have no future at the club.
Fernandes, however, very much does have a future at the club, it just might be in a different role to the one he has performed so well for the last five-and-a-half years. The player Manchester United have needed him to be might be different to the one they now need him to be moving forward.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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