Chelsea left Old Trafford with no points for their Premier League tally and a sense of frustration after being defeated by a Manchester United side who have fallen by the wayside under Ruben Amorim.
Not quite, actually. United played with coherence and tenacity against the Blues, even if Robert Sanchez was dismissed in the opening stages and then the Red Devils came together to rise two goals to the good.
That was not a team who played as if they were directionless and lost under their Portuguese tactician with his controversial formation. Could it be coming together? Time will tell, and consistency must be the order of the day if the Premier League giants truly wish to enter the ascendancy once again.
If this is truly going to be the case, and Man United are going to succeed under Amorim and challenge for silverware of the highest level once again, as is their due, then Bruno Fernandes is essential to reaching lofty goals.
Fernandes continues to inspire
Hardly a revelatory statement. Fernandes has been Manchester United’s talisman supreme right from the moment he shook Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s hand and signed for the club in an initial £47m deal.
The Portuguese Magnifico has been a pillar of strength throughout the turbulent river of a journey over the past five years, and against Chelsea, he scored his 100th goal for the club on his 200th Premier League appearance.
Operating in a different, deeper role than has been the norm this season to accommodate Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 system. It’s been somewhat rocky, but the 31-year-old continues to inspire and he has since been singled out by podcaster Adam Joseph for being a “truly special player” with a “remarkable” ability to maintain his fitness and form and presence as a leader.
To think that the captain came close to leaving his ship this summer, having been offered a lucrative package to leave Europe and forge a new career over in the Saudi Pro League.
Ultimately, Bruno opted to stay – a further illustration of his commitment to putting this club back on their perch. However, he can’t do it alone, and while Amorim and INEOS have completed a series of exciting summer signings, there’s an existing member of the squad who has the potential to step up and become a leader in his own right over the coming years.
Man Utd's future talisman
Fernandes isn’t quite a veteran of the game, but having turned 31, he’s certainly one of the most experienced superstars in the Premier League.
On the other end of the spectrum at Manchester United is Amad Diallo, whose breakout year in red last season has put his name on the map.
Signed from Atalanta for a £19m fee as a teenager in January 2021, the versatile winger had completed a series of loan spells before coming into his own last year, scoring 11 goals and assisting ten more across 41 matches in all competitions. His performances led journalist James Copley to hail him as a “wizard” when on the ball.
The six-cap Ivory Coast international has much still to learn, but he provided the Red Devils with a different attacking dimension last year, offering a focal point from across the wide positions.
Right winger
128
42 (35)
Attacking midfield
33
10 (3)
Centre-forward
22
9 (1)
Left winger
20
9 (4)
He might not be on Fernandes’ level yet, but he can surely reach such a position with careful work over the coming campaigns, recorded by data-led platform FBref to rank among the top 4% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for pass completion, the top 19% for shot-creating actions, the top 13% for progressive carries, the top 6% for ball recoveries and the top 5% for tackles won per 90.
A ball recovery is defined by the number of loose balls recovered by a player.
FBref also note that Amad’s most statistically comparable players are Paris Saint-Germain’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, as well as Marcus Rashford, who needs no introduction.
It was the 23-year-old who kept his composure to strike a vicious blow on an unforgettable occasion in last season’s Manchester derby. No such luck this year, but he did play an important role in claiming all three points against Chelsea, nestled behind Benjamin Sesko in the first half, alongside Bryan Mbeumo.
His continuing rise can be examined through his market valuation, which in recent years has skyrocketed up to something in the ballpark of £46m, data provided by Football Transfers. That’s over double the fee United first paid for him, so it seems they got this deal right.
As a reference point, Football Transfers also note that Fernandes is worth around £41m, which isn’t a fair reflection of his actual worth within the United squad nor indeed what Saudi suitors were willing to pay during the summer transfer window.
But, in any case, Fernandes no longer carries the same staggering price tag as he once did, having passed the barrier of his twenties over a year ago now.
Amad, eight years his junior, showed signs of a certain quality that would allow him to take the skipper’s proverbial place when the fateful day of his departure does arrive, having even been singled out as a “candidate for the Ballon d’Or” in the future by former Fiorentina goalkeeper Giovanni Galli in the past.
Tonight’s ceremony will not include the Ivorian’s name, but if Man United manage to rise to the fore once again, and Amad maintains a presence as one of the club’s biggest stars, he might just make good on such one-time praise in the coming years.
