Manchester United made it three wins out of three in the Premier League on Saturday when they beat Brighton & Hove Albion 4-2 at Old Trafford.
Bryan Mbeumo, who joined from Brentford in the summer, scored twice, whilst Casemiro and Matheus Cunha also got on the scoresheet in front of the home fans.
Bruno Fernandes, as shown in the clip above, played a crucial role in the fourth goal with his brilliant dummy, but his influence in the final third is beginning to wane.
Why Bruno Fernandes’s influence is waning
The Portugal international has hit double figures for both goals and assists in all five of his full seasons at Old Trafford to date, per Sofascore, which speaks to the consistent impact that he has had at the top end of the pitch.
However, Bruno only has two goals and one assist in ten appearances in all competitions so far this term, scoring two goals from 4.29 xG in the Premier League, per Sofascore, which shows that his influence is waning.
Do not get it twisted, the 31-year-old star is still an influential player who can produce moments of magic for United, but the arrivals of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, and Benjamin Sesko mean that he does not need to carry the team on his back anymore.
He still has two years left on his contract and only turned 31 last month, which means that he does still have plenty of gas left in the tank, but there is another player at United who may have Bruno’s captaincy in his sights, Matthijs de Ligt.
Why Matthijs de Ligt is a future Man Utd captain
The Netherlands international is five years younger than Bruno and may have more of a long-term future at Old Trafford, which could see him eventually snatch the captaincy if he continues to shine at the back.
After the 4-2 win over Brighton, content creator Liam Canning described his performance as “monstrous”, stating that he has “been United’s best player this season” and that the defender is “a future captain in the making” for the Red Devils.
It is hard to argue with that assessment from Canning after watching the former Bayern Munich and Juventus centre-back strut his stuff against Brighton on Saturday.
|
Vs Brighton |
Matthijs de Ligt |
|---|---|
|
Minutes |
90 |
|
Interceptions |
1 |
|
Clearances |
6 |
|
Blocks |
1 |
|
Ball recoveries |
5 |
|
Aerial duel success rate |
100% (2/2) |
|
Pass accuracy |
91% |
As you can see in the table above, De Ligt was ‘monstrous’ at the back for Ruben Amorim by winning 100% of his aerial duels and making several important defensive interventions.
This season, per Sofascore, the United defender has won 61% of his duels across nine starts in the Premier League. This shows that he has provided a dominant defensive force at the heart of Amorim’s back three.
Rio Ferdinand recently claimed that the Dutchman should be “the first name on the teamsheet“, which is usually reserved for the captain and main star of the team, and that is high praise coming from a player who won Premier League titles whilst playing in the same position.
De Ligt, of course, has also shown that he is a leader. He was the youngest captain in the knockout stage of the Champions League when he played for Ajax in the quarter-finals at the age of 19, per Transfermarkt, which shows that he can be a leader and a captain.
Therefore, Bruno may need to watch out as his powers seem to be waning whilst De Ligt’s stock is rising and he potentially has more years left ahead of him than the Portugal international to lead the club forward as captain, should Amorim decide that he is suitable for that role.
