Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has urged the main focus to be on the staff somewhat than on him, regardless of being one of many few gamers to emerge with credit score from final season’s disastrous marketing campaign.
United endured their worst top-flight end since 1974, ending the Premier League in fifteenth place.
Fernandes, nonetheless, scored 19 targets throughout all competitions and earned a PFA Participant of the 12 months nomination alongside Mohamed Salah, Alexis Mac Allister, Alexander Isak, Declan Rice and Cole Palmer.
Chatting with ESPN Brasil, the Portugal worldwide mentioned he would somewhat his private recognition get replaced by collective success.
“I hope you’ll hear much less about Bruno this 12 months, however much more about United,” Fernandes mentioned.
“That’s my fundamental goal as a result of my title being spoken, let’s say vaguely alone, it doesn’t fill me with pleasure or something.
“United being talked about, being optimistic, that’s an important factor and that’s what I need for this season.
“If it occurs that Bruno has to attain fewer targets, present much less assists or do one other sort of provision of what’s vital for the video games, I’d be very joyful.”
Whereas final season was one to neglect, there’s cautious optimism round Previous Trafford this summer time. The arrivals of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, and Benjamin Sesko have boosted confidence forward of Sunday’s Premier League opener in opposition to Arsenal.
Fernandes shares that optimism, however after greater than 5 years on the membership, he is aware of United followers have skilled loads of false dawns.
“Yearly that I stayed right here, each time the season begins, I see this [positivity],” he mentioned.
“I imagine that it may very well be a time of change, the place we are able to do one thing higher.
“Most likely my first two seasons have been excellent, the place we actually believed that we may go additional and do higher issues. We had an excellent season with Erik [Ten Hag] in his first season, then within the second season it wasn’t so good.
“Clearly, now individuals have joined the membership, not simply the gamers, but in addition workers and administration, who’ve a unique imaginative and prescient.
“I hope that every one these modifications and all the things that we’ve accomplished can carry the membership again to the place the place it actually deserves to be.”
A lot of the pre-season buzz has centred across the new attacking trio of Cunha, Mbeumo, and Sesko, as Ruben Amorim appears to be like to repair a facet that scored simply 44 league targets final time period – the fifth-worst within the division.
Nonetheless, Fernandes insists enchancment should come from the entire squad, not simply the forwards.
“We’ve got extra targets within the staff as a result of we all know that we didn’t rating sufficient targets final 12 months,” Fernandes mentioned.
“However we additionally need to know that we’ve to defend higher in order to not undergo as many targets as we conceded final 12 months.
“And once I say defend higher, it’s not the defenders, however as a staff.
“To know find out how to undergo, to know find out how to defend, to know the moments which are essential to have everybody behind the ball, to have everybody to make recoveries, to have everybody react shortly after we lose it.”
