Bruno Fernandes has most probably been the best player at Manchester United, ever since joining the club in January of 2020 and naturally, he has been one of the most important members in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team.
As a result, we have seen the Portuguese playmaker play a lot of football in recent times. According to stats from Transfermarkt, he made 58 appearances last season and played 4584 minutes of football in total, scoring 28 goals and providing 17 assists in the process of doing so.
It goes without saying that that is a lot of football to play in a single season. And it did seem like his performances started to suffer a little bit towards the end of the campaign.
As reported by ESPN, Solskjaer appeared to admit that he might have overplayed Fernandes last season but appears to be happy that this season he will have more options:
"“Bruno [Fernandes] last year for example, maybe I overplayed him but it was because he was so important for us. Adding these extra players — Jesse [Lingard] coming back, Jadon [Sancho] coming in, Anthony [Martial] being fit again — gives us a lot more to work with.”"
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Solskjaer might have overplayed the Manchester United star last season
It did seem last season that after a brilliant start to the campaign, Bruno Fernandes faded away to an extent in the second half of the season.
He was not as effective as he normally has been ever since moving to Old Trafford. And his performances appeared to drop as well, so it was not just about things not going his way in the final third.
Of course, fatigue could have played a part in this. It is not easy to perform at a top level for the entirety of the campaign anyway. And Fernandes made an incredible 58 appearances last season.
Hopefully, with more options available this season, Solskjaer will get the opportunity to rest Fernandes more often this time around. The Portuguese playmaker remains one of the most important players in the team right now. But for him to be at his best, it will be important not to overplay him.