Roy Keane is wrong – Bruno Fernandes is irreplaceable to Man Utd

Man Utd 3-1 Aston Villa (Casemiro 53′, Cunha 71′, Sesko 81′ | Barkley 64′)

OLD TRAFFORD — If Manchester United are going to rekindle former glories, Bruno Fernandes has to be persuaded that his Premier League dreams can still come true if he stays put a few more years yet.

Years of broken promises have turned his head. The shoulders are weary after carrying this sleeping giant since he arrived on our shores, ready to conquer all. Saudi Arabia advances offered a lucrative way out, with other top European clubs still interested, despite his advancing years.

No matter how many hundreds of millions United intend to spend on a midfield overhaul this summer, the likes we have never seen at Old Trafford, such an eventuality cannot be allowed to happen.

Fernandes is everything as a player United want to be as a club: possession of unrelenting intensity, ability to rile the opposition up like no other, all while remaining world class in all that he does.

It is the timing of many of his sublime assists – he now has 16 this season, a United Premier League record – that separates Fernandes from his peers and makes him wholly irreplaceable.

Some sloppy defending allowed Ross Barkley the freedom of Stretford to level against a labouring United. Another missed opportunity beckoned.

With one defence-splitting pass into Matheus Cunha, a superhuman pickout no rearguard would ever be able to cut out, Fernandes turned one point into three. The slide-rule pass should be heralded as the assist of the season, but such instances are all in a day’s work for the Portuguese magnifico.

That is what is scary about Fernandes – despite his unfathomable numbers, his two assists taking him to 100 for United – he remains criminally underrated.

With Casemiro seeking pastures new in the summer, losing Fernandes too could set Ineos’ restoration project back to square one.

Only a handful of players in history, however, can produce passes like Sunday’s sensational assist. Even fewer at the most crucial moments.

A return to the Champions League will help, but the charm offensive must begin in earnest. Fernandes cannot be allowed to leave, no matter the cost.