But since the start of the season, Bruno Fernandes has looked every inch a weary captain, having carried his underperforming troops from all too many battlefields.
Two years of Erik ten Hag’s limited tactical acumen and inability to instil any form of stylistic identity had taken its toll on the only signing from the post-Ferguson era who can look himself in the mirror and say he justifies his price tag.
His record until this term was remarkable in a team lurching from one disaster to the next, but even at the peak of his United powers – as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s free-flowing attack threatened to finally restore United to something like their former glories – you still felt there was more to come from this Portuguese Magnifico.
A fresh start, under a fellow countryman he has been a very vocal supporter of, could not be more welcome and could unleash the true superstar Fernandes has always threatened to become.
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