Bruno Fernandes: Man Utd and Portugal midfielder wins Football Writers’ Association men’s Footballer of the Year award

There is no doubt that Manchester United are putting pressure on Bruno Fernandes to receive this award.

United are pushing Fernandes’ claims and have also recently promoted the Portuguese playmaker through the media.

But it wouldn’t mean anything if Fernandes hadn’t scored in a season when United needed him.

When Fernandes talked about qualifying for the Champions League in October, few thought it was likely.

It looked like a tall order in January when manager Jason Wilcox told his United team that was the target despite the sacking of Ruben Amorim.

That they managed to do so with three games remaining and still finish the season closer to the eventual champions on points since Sir Alex Ferguson retired 13 years ago owes much to Fernandes.

Sunday’s victory over Liverpool, following a rare injury injury against Burnley, was only the third of 16 matches in which Fernandes failed to score or score.

His performances throughout the season were consistently high and worthy of wider recognition.

Twelve months ago, when the debate over Fernandes’ future at United raged, the question posed was: where would they be without him? The suspicion was that they would be much closer to relegation than they actually were.

The same thing can be asked now. Reply? They certainly won’t be looking forward to returning to the Champions League.