Bruno Fernandes: The Man Who Left Early and Arrived Late

Bruno Fernandes turns 32 in just over a week. Among Portugal's 30 most-capped players, only three have never won a national league title with any of the clubs they've played for: Rui Patrício, Bruno Fernandes, and William Carvalho. All three had lengthy stints at Sporting, a club they joined too early relative to the period when the team returned to championship-winning ways.

All three were wearing the Sporting jersey in May 2018 when the most infamous incident in the club's history occurred: the attack on the Alcochete Academy. Rui Patrício terminated his contract and left Alvalade immediately afterward, moving through Wolverhampton, Roma, Atalanta, and Al Ain since 2018. He did manage to win the Conference League with the Roman club, but nothing more. William Carvalho departed at the same time, representing Betis and Pachuca since 2018, and is now heading to Palm City, with a Copa del Rey title to his name. But nothing more.

Bruno Fernandes' story is different. In two and a half years at Sporting, he played 137 games and scored 63 goals. He left Sporting in January 2020 with a Portuguese Cup and two League Cups under his belt. From a Sporting perspective, he left too soon: just 35 days after signing for Manchester United (January 29), Rúben Amorim took charge of Sporting (March 4). And from then on, Alvalade saw what it saw: three league titles.

Bruno Fernandes has been at Manchester United for six and a half years, scoring 110 goals in 329 appearances for the Red Devils. If he left Sporting too early, he arrived in Manchester too late. He's won an FA Cup and a League Cup. Had he arrived three years earlier, he would have had a Europa League in his pocket. Had he arrived in 2013, he would have been a champion. He will never reach the legendary status of Charlton, Best, or Law (1960s), nor that of Giggs, Rooney, Cantona, Scholes, Keane, Schmeichel, Robson, or Beckham (late 20th and early 21st centuries). But in the last six and a half years, name a more important player in Manchester United's history. Maguire? No. Pogba? No. Cavani? No. Mata? No. Rashford? No. Ronaldo? No. Casemiro? No. McTominay? No. Lisandro Martínez? No. Matheus Cunha? No. In short: no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I don't believe this season will be the one where Bruno Fernandes finally breaks away from the Patrício-William-Bruno trio. In fact, at almost 32, it's unlikely he'll win the Premier League with Manchester United, unless the Red Devils capitalize on the rebuilding flaws of Manchester City and Liverpool, the potential failure of reigning champions Arsenal to consolidate, and further construction issues at Chelsea and Tottenham. The exceptional footballer that Bruno Fernandes is has had two minor misfortunes: he left Sporting early and arrived at Manchester United late. I hope he still has time.