With it being rumoured that Manchester United consider Alejandro Garnacho, Kobbie Mainoo and Rasmus Hojlund untouchable in the transfer market, another player who should be included is Bruno Fernandes, writes Kamogelo Motecwane.
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The Red Devils are set to undergo a serious transformation on the pitch. With the off-season transfer market fast approaching, this will be the first under the club's new minority ownership of INEOS.
The chemical producer's CEO, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, bought a 25% stake in the record Premier League champions in December 2023, and has already started making changes to the team's recruitment staff. Omar Berrada has officially been appointed as the club's new CEO, while Jason Wilcox is set to take over the technical director role.
The club is still trying to manufacture a deal to lure Dan Ashworth away from Newcastle United and bring him to Old Trafford to serve as sporting director, but the Magpies are believed to want £20 million (R466 million) for his services. According to The Athletic, however, Ratcliffe recently told United staff he was confident of securing the Englishman's services soon.
Ashworth, who previously worked at Brighton Hove Albion, is famous for unearthing and recruiting players under the age of 25 who have room to improve. This is a sentiment that would lend itself to The Telegraph's report earlier this week, which stated that the young core of Mainoo, Garnacho and Hojlund would stay no matter what offer arrives for them. The club will likely add to the trio with more youngsters, but a player who should be added to the "untouchables" list in Manchester is Fernandes.
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Following Sir Alex Ferguson's departure from the Theatre of Dreams, many superstars have arrived to awaken the United faithful from the nightmarish decade, but have failed. Angel Di Maria, Alexis Sanchez, Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Antony Martial, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romelu Lukaku all joined under the pretence that their arrivals would change the club's fortunes, but ultimately all of them fell to the pressures of being a big player at United when there seemed to be a lack of direction from the team's chiefs.
The only big name to arrive over the past decade that has seemingly embraced the mantle of being the saviour for the record Premier League winners is the Maia native, Fernandes. When he first arrived in England, the playmaker started like a house on fire. In his first 51 matches in the league, the Portugal international amassed 44 goal contributions, and while he may not be producing the ridiculous numbers he did when he first arrived, he still regularly bails his side out of tricky situations.
There is a sizeable contingent of United fans who would like to see the back of the 29-year-old because he does have a tendency to go missing in games or making critical mistakes. However, one thing that he possesses that nobody else in United's current squad does is a willingness to make winning plays and , with his ability with the ball at his feet, he is able to execute them more often than not.
According to Squawka, no player has created more chances this season in the English top flight than Fernandes (108), and as far as open play chances are concerned, only Arsenal's Martin Odegaard (80) has created more chances than Fernandes' 72.
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United's inability to sign complementary players over the past 10 years has often let their superstar arrivals down, but that has not been entirely the case for the 64-cap Portugal international. His game isn't predicated on pace and so, in the right environment, he can still flourish at a world-class level, so it would be advisable to the Mancunian chiefs that they do not even entertain offers for their club captain.
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