Bruno Fernandes exclusive: Inside the mind of Man Utd’s assist king & how he’s become a goal-creating monster

However, as the figurehead of a club the size of United, Fernandes is also an easy target for critics. Indeed, former Red Devils tend to come down on him hardest, including Roy Keane, who described Fernandes’ pursuit of the Premier League assists record as a “circus act” and suggested that he was prioritising it ahead of winning matches.

Patrice Evra, meanwhile, recently claimed that Fernandes is too single-minded, saying on his Kick stream, on behalf of Stake: “Now that he’s won the Player of the Year award, I don’t want to see him win it again. I want Bruno to play a part of the team. My worry with Bruno is that he doesn’t control the game. I played with people like Paul Scholes, Sir Alex Ferguson would say, ‘Pass to Paul Scholes,’ because he knows when to control the game, to go forward or to keep possession.”

These kind of comments are extremely unfair. United would never have qualified for the Champions League last term without Fernandes driving them forward at every opportunity; he’s a born winner and asking him to play a more restrained game would strip the team of it’s most potent weapon.

It would be understandable if Fernandes’ confidence fluctuated because of all the outside noise. Fortunately for United and their current manager Michael Carrick, though, he is strong willed enough to block it out.

“I’ve always said to myself to believe in yourself. Because throughout your career, you’re going to have moments where people will doubt how good you are, or how good you can be,” Fernandes says. “That will always be there, from the beginning to the end. It’s not going to change. Doesn’t how much you show it. Doesn’t matter how many of these (points at the PFA Player of the Year trophy) you get. People are always going to doubt.

“At a high level you always, week by week and sometimes every three days you’re going to get some credit, other days you’re going to get some bad words. You just have to deal with that and believe in yourself because if you get in certain places it’s because you’ve done something right.”