Bruno Fernandes, Declan Rice, Erling Haaland, David Raya and Rayan Cherki are the leading contenders
By WhoScored
There is a version of this season in which Bruno Fernandes left Manchester United in the summer. “The club wanted me to leave,” he said in December. Thankfully for United fans, he stayed, navigated the tactical ambiguity of playing for Ruben Amorim and led the team back into the Champions League.
Fernandes has been at the centre of everything good United have done this season. He has 19 assists – one short of the 20 achieved by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne in the seasons when they won the PFA player of the year award – and has created 124 chances for teammates, 56 more than Dominik Szoboszlai in second.
His ability to block out the turmoil at his club and consistently produce world-class performances is admirable. This season has been particularly turbulent, with Fernandes deployed as a deep-lying midfielder under Amorim before his sacking. Despite being played out of position, the captain kept his head down and contributed five goals and eight assists before returning to his preferred No 10 position under Michael Carrick. Since that change, United’s form has followed suit: 15 wins and just, three draws and two defeats in 20 games, with Fernandes contributing 11 assists and three goals.
