Man United must build new team around Bruno Fernandes and his X-factor

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Bruno Fernandes will get bums off seats at Manchester United – that’s for sure.

Now the job for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is to build a team in which he can truly shine.

A solid debut in the goalless draw against Wolves suggested Fernandes is precisely what United have been missing – a midfielder with the X-factor.

But it also emphasised the dearth of quality within a team that has picked up just four points from a possible 15 since the turn of the year – and missed yet another chance to make up ground in the race for the top four.

Fernandes was thrown straight in at the deep end after just one day’s training since his £46.5m move from Sporting Lisbon.

Operating in the No10 role to begin with, he was stifled by the lack of cohesion in a United attack that is firing blanks in the absence of Marcus Rashford.

Anthony Martial looks completely lost without a strike partner capable of stretching defences and taking the focus of attention away from him.

Daniel James has gone backwards since his flying start. And the over-reliance on the ageing legs of Juan Mata sums up United’s lack of options.

That will change when Odion Ighalo arrives on loan – but Fernandes is a player to build a team around.

Deadline day signing: Odion Ighalo
REUTERS

Solskjaer is happy to draw comparisons with Paul Scholes – such is his faith in the Portugal midfielder. And Fernandes showed glimpses of the United legend’s eye for goal from midfield with a raft of long-range efforts.

The 25-year-old hit the target on three occasions, including a fierce snap-shot from the edge of the area and a curling free kick.

His five efforts in total already give him the highest average of any United player this season – overtaking leading scorer Marcus Rashford’s figures of 3.4 per game.

And his three on target should help United increase their own average of 5.5 shots on target in a campaign that has seen them struggle for goals.

Even Fernandes couldn’t alter that on this occasion – making it three straight Premier League games in which Solskjaer’s side have failed to find the back of the net.

That top strike target Erling Braut Haaland took his tally at new club Borussia Dortmund to seven in three appearances on Saturday only emphasises how costly United’s failure to land the Norwegian starlet could prove to be.

No one is expecting Ighalo to produce those numbers – but he will at least provide a stopgap until Solskjaer can turn his attention to a top class finisher in the summer.

It should also be noted that United are severely depleted by injuries to Rashford, Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay, who would all figure in Solskjaer’s strongest line-up.

But his team remains a work in progress and one that can have no complaints about the 38-point gap to leaders Liverpool.

Fernandes, alone, will not bridge that – but he is a step in the right direction.

United fans can only fantasise about how he and Haaland could have transformed the club’s fortunes if both had arrived this month. But Solskjaer’s pursuit of his countryman is further evidence of his eye for talent.

More rectuits: Solskjaer has set his sights on Jadon Sancho
Bongarts/Getty Images

Jadon Sancho is another he is keen on, as well as James Maddison.

And that’s precisely the level of quality Fernandes should be playing alongside.

He can’t turn United around all by himself.

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