Manchester United undroppable can benefit from bold Erik ten Hag call amid £91.5million transfer solution

Of Manchester United’s last 100 Premier League fixtures, nobody has been more involved than Bruno Fernandes. The Portuguese playmaker has started 95 of those games since the mid-point of 2021/22 and of the five he missed he was either suspended, injured or ill.

When he’s fit, Fernandes starts. That has been the way of things for a while now and when the captain has been so essential to making this team tick it’s understandable. For much of that period United have been a team of moments and Fernandes, with his high-risk, high-reward style, can often be the ultimate moments player.

The 30-year-old has made 164 Premier League appearances for United and 161 of them have been starts. The last time he was a substitute for a league game was an Old Trafford defeat to Wolves on January 3, 2022. The season before he came off the bench to turn the tide at West Ham and did so again when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made wholesale changes against Leicester City, with one eye on the Europa League final.

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But when it really matters, Fernandes starts. He is as close to undroppable as it gets at United and a return of 79 goals and 70 assists in 241 games in all competitions has arguably earned him that status, as well as the captaincy.

He barely ever comes off either. Of those 95 starts, he has played all but 58 minutes of a possible 8,550. This week he has lasted the full game against Crystal Palace and FC Twente despite struggling for form in both.

Erik ten Hag is making a case for rotation this season but it seems Fernandes is generally immune from