Bruno Fernandes wins Manchester United 2019-20 Player of the Year
Sep 18, 2020
Manchester [UK], September 18 : Midfielder Bruno Fernandes has been crowned as the winner of the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award for 2019/20, following a brilliant start to his Manchester United career.
Thousands of fans voted and they decided in favour of the Portuguese playmaker, who just edged out Anthony Martial, with Marcus Rashford finishing in third place.
Bruno succeeds Luke Shaw as the trophy's holder and is the first player in club history to seize it after just half a season in the red shirt.
"Of course you want to win some trophies for the team, for the club, and for the fans. But, obviously, I'm happy with the individual trophies. I know you can say: 'Oh, I don't care' and everything, but it's always important for a player. You always feel good when you win these kinds of awards, and I am no different. I am really happy. I want to add this to so many trophies for the club and for the fans because I think they deserve [it]," Fernandes said in a statement.
Bruno was selected as our Player of the Year by 35.5 per cent of the fans who voted, just marginally ahead of Martial with 34 per cent, while Rashford earned 10.4 per cent of the nominations.
Mason Greenwood finished fourth in the poll after 8.3 per cent of voters chose him. Next was Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who obtained 3.8 per cent, and Harry Maguire finished sixth with 2.4 per cent.
Despite playing just 22 games in a United shirt since joining from Sporting Lisbon in January, Fernandes has made a seismic impact on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team, thanks to his dazzling imagination and inspirational work-ethic.
The Portugal international was named Player of the Month four times (February, March, June, and August), with only Mason Greenwood able to wrest it from his firm grip (July).
Bruno was named Man of the Match on his debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers and delivered his first assist, for Harry Maguire, in just his second game - an important 2-0 away win at Chelsea.
On his third start, against Watford, Fernandes scored the first of eight penalties he would dispatch during 2019/20 and notched another assist, this time for Greenwood.
He finished the season with 12 goals and eight assists, and converted every penalty he took, including the first goal in our final league game of the season - a 2-0 win at Leicester City, which confirmed that we will compete in the Champions League this season.
