Bruno Fernandes is closing in on the Premier League single‑season assist record and has received a high-profile endorsement from Wayne Rooney, who told him he should win this season's PFA Player of the Year in a sit-down filmed at Carrington earlier this week.
Fernandes has 18 assists and eight goals from 30 Premier League appearances this season, putting him two assists away from equalling the all‑time single‑season mark of 20 and three assists from breaking it. Rooney, who met Fernandes with Sport at Carrington, told him: "So we're coming towards the end of the season, Player of the Year is coming up. I genuinely think this year you should win it," and praised his leadership when form dips: "What you bring to the team, when the teams going through a bad period, you're there consistently and you're leading. I think you are the perfect example to your team-mates." Rooney added: "I think you'll win it. I think you should win it. I think you will win it and if you don't..."
Fernandes, Manchester United's Portuguese captain, described being in the conversation as a privilege. "It's a huge privilege to be in the conversation, obviously, as a player, you can say as many times as you want to win trophies collectively and that's true," he said, adding that individual awards carry weight because fellow players vote: "But these individual accolades are always nice for you and your personal side. You don't need the accolades to know if you have had a good season or not, but when you know it is players who vote for you, that has a little bit of a different impact because it is those players who you have been playing against." He added: "If they recognise you as the best in the league or the best in the league for that season it is a huge privilege."
The assist chase is being measured against the joint record of 20 set by Thierry Henry in 2002/03 and matched by Kevin De Bruyne in 2019/20. At 18 assists, Fernandes sits two shy of equalling that mark and three shy of breaking it, a gap that converts into headlines as the season heads toward the Premier League's usual mid‑May announcement of the player and manager of the year.
There is a crowded field of candidates beyond Fernandes. Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are expected to be in the conversation for the PFA award, and Fernandes himself acknowledged others' different styles of play. "So it's a privilege and an honour, but I think there is other players that have done a very good season, different ways, different play styles, stuff like that, lets see who gets it at the end of the season," he said. Fernandes also noted the link between team success and individual recognition: "I am aware that players that win the league get closer to those trophies and to win that, because we always put together on the same plate, winning the league by a player that is always going to have a certain weight [of impact]."
The endorsement from Rooney, himself one of English football's most decorated forwards, adds a narrative weight that statistics alone do not carry. Fernandes told the camera that while he would happily win individual honours—"of course I would be more than happy to win it, that's not a lie on that"—he has never done so and said claiming the award would be "unbelievable because I've never done it before."
Benjamin Sesko, a team‑mate, underlined Fernandes's influence inside the club, describing the Portuguese midfielder's constant coaching on and off the training pitch: "I'm also getting a lot of instructions from Bruno (Fernandes). Every single training, after training, sometimes before training." Sesko said players should listen without question: "Whatever he tells you, just do it, don't think twice. And that's what I said. I'm really grateful to have this opportunity to be around him." He concluded with a simple endorsement: "He's great. He's my team-mate. And of course, always stand up [for my team-mates], yeah, he should win it."
That mix of numbers and testimony creates a clear case: Fernandes's assist totals put him within touching distance of a record held by Henry and De Bruyne, while endorsements from Rooney and colleagues like Sesko frame him as both producer and leader. A recent Round Time News column also weighed the wider reputation around Fernandes: Pogba: Bruno Fernandes Would Be Ballon D'or Contender if He Played for Manchester City. The Premier League typically names its player and manager of the year in mid‑May; as the vote approaches, Fernandes's remaining assists could settle whether the season ends with a record and, with it, strengthened momentum for the PFA prize.
If Fernandes reaches 20 assists, the statistical argument for his PFA case will be unavoidably strong. If he does not, the endorsements from peers and a high-profile figure like Rooney will still shape the debate about who was the season's most influential player.
