Former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley believes that Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes doesn’t understand the role being asked of him by Ruben Amorim.
Fernandes was a vivid spark in what proved an otherwise torturous season for the Red Devils under Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim.
The Portuguese international notched up a formidable 19 goals and 19 assists in all competitions despite his side’s struggles on most fronts.
Nonetheless, after the club’s latest rebuild over the summer, Fernandes has found himself deployed in a special midfield role this season.
Nominally an attacking midfielder, the 31-year-old is now being asked to play further back within the midfield two of Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 formation, with summer signings Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo preferred in additional advanced areas.
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Fernandes has played in a deeper midfield role for each club and country at times during his profession, but Burley believes that Amorim is wasting the United skipper’s talents by continually starting him in that role.
‘They have no legs in midfield, we’ve talked about this with Casemiro and Ugarte,’ Burley told ESPN.
‘Bruno Fernandes is playing there, but it surely’s not his position.
‘He doesn’t understand the defensive elements and the positional elements of being a deeper-lying midfielder.
‘And it also negates, which we’ve talked about at length, his ability to influence 30 yards further up the sphere.’
Asked over the international break about his role in Amorim’s United side, Fernandes said: ‘I really like playing football, regardless of the position.
‘They’ll put me at full-back, winger, goalkeeper. I’ll all the time give my best.
‘Everyone has their preferences, but we have now to adapt to the coach’s ideas.’
Meanwhile, former United midfielder Owen Hargreaves is in agreement with Burley’s assessment and urged Amorim to re-jig his side to get one of the best out of Fernandes.
‘He’s not playing his natural position, he’s playing deeper,’ Hargeaves told TNT Sports earlier this month.
‘He’s playing as a box-to-box midfielder. Bruno’s the most effective creators within the division. So that you’ve got to play him in his natural position.
‘But because they play two 10s, you may argue Man Utd’s two best players last season were Amad [Diallo] and Bruno.
‘They were the 2 10s, after which they went and signed two more 10s in Cunha and Mbeumo whenever you didn’t have a keeper or a striker.
‘I’d like to see Bruno play as a ten, perhaps with Mbeumo as a No. 9. If you may have Cunha and Bruno playing as two 10s plus Mbeumo, that’s good.’
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