Bruno Fernandes has admitted he is a player who will always wear his heart on his sleeve. The Manchester United captain's devilish grin after setting up a teammate has been a recurring theme in the club's rollercoaster season. However, there have been moments when Fernandes' frustration was evident when things did not go United's way.
United are set to return to the Champions League next season, but they crashed out of domestic cups and were not in European competition this term. The campaign saw a managerial change, with Ruben Amorim departing before Michael Carrick helped revive the season. If there was a scowl on Fernandes' face before, he is smiling again now. His passion for United, his connection with the club, and the fans drive him to always want the best for the team.
Fernandes, 31, said: "I am very bad at hiding my emotions! I really show what I feel and I'm not afraid of it. Some people take it one way, positive and others take it negatively. But I can't change the way I am. It's phrased on me and it's not something I can change from one day to the other. I can't just become a different person."
He added: "You can adapt yourself, you can improve, you can learn and I'm doing that every day. Obviously, you can become a better player, a better person, a better captain, a better teammate and I will always try to do that until the end of my career."
Fernandes emphasized the support from fans: "You feel like it's very tough especially if you are at a club for a long time, sometimes people want to see new faces, new people coming in trying to win and replicate things that were done in the past by other players. But I really feel the love and support from the fans every time I step out onto the pitch at Old Trafford because they believe in me as one of their own and I always try and replicate for them what they have seen so many times coming in to Old Trafford. I just try and do the best I can to make them proud while at the same time making sure we are as successful as possible."
United's glory days serve as a constant reminder of past success and inspiration for the current team to return to winning major trophies. Fernandes has won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup with United but desires more. He is honored to join legends like Wayne Rooney, George Best, Sir Bobby Charlton, Cristiano Ronaldo, Teddy Sheringham, and Roy Keane in winning the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year award.
He said: "I want to achieve everything that those players achieved in terms of winning with the club. But being in their company with this award is massively important for me and I won't hide from that. It will always be the prize for me. That's always what my goal has been. I've never hidden from that. As I said before, I'm not very good at hiding things! I speak out whenever I want on what I want to achieve and what I want to achieve is winning the league and winning the Champions League."
Fernandes has recorded 19 assists in the Premier League this season, with two games remaining to potentially break the record. Among his standout assists, his pass to Bryan Mbeumo in the Manchester derby, following a driving run from midfield, is considered one of the best.
He explained: "From this season, I have a lot of them that I like. People talk about the set-pieces a lot and many have come from set-pieces and when you see Casemiro scoring a goal or from a header he tells me exactly where he wants me to put the ball. Sometimes it's more difficult than to make that run that I did for 40 or 50 metres thinking about trying to move the centre back, trying to get him to move on the wrong side to give more space to Bryan. Sometimes it's more difficult because you have to put the ball exactly where you want - and he still has to have the quality to head it in - in the same way that Bryan had to put the ball in."
He added: "But in terms of certain aspects of the game, changing managers, difficult weeks - we had two games before that which were not going our way - we had Burnley away, we were winning but then we got knocked out of the FA Cup and then we had to play City at home who we know are big rivals for us. Also it is such an important game, an important game for us to turn things around and do different things this season."
