What type of player is Bruno Fernandes and what could he bring to Man Utd?

It has been clear for a long time that Manchester United need to strengthen their midfield. Now, an in-form midfielder that plays for a club with whom United have done some noteworthy business before has expressed an interest in joining this month. It's looking good, right?

Bruno Fernandes is keen to move to Old Trafford, so this deal could well happen in the coming weeks. But is he the man to solve United's.

Speculative shooter with consistent return

A look at Fernandes' raw numbers hints at why he has attracted so much interest over the past couple of years. 

A central or attacking midfielder who both creates and scores goals with remarkable consistency and seems to have hit his peak at 25 years of age, he is an attractive proposition for Europe's biggest clubs, once the sizeable hurdle of his transfer fee is surmounted.

Playing in an inconsistent Sporting Lisbon team that sits fourth in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, 16 points off top spot, Fernandes is the hub of just about everything that happens in the offensive half of the pitch.

Both this season and last, Fernandes has averaged a goal or assist per league game, with 33 in 33 appearances in 2018/19 (20 goals and 13 assists), and 15 in 15 appearances in 2019/20 (eight goals and seven assists). 

Add in the five goals and three assists he put together in five Europa League group stage games this season, including two goals and two assists in the 4-0 annihilation of PSV in November - a win that secured Sporting's place in the knockout rounds - and you clearly have a player who has mastered the level he is currently playing at.

The thing about Fernandes is that he isn't the most efficient of players in front of goal. He shoots an awful lot, averaging more attempts per game - from all manner of positions - than any other player in the Portuguese top flight this season, with 3.6, despite operating from central midfield. 

Only 13 players to have started at least 10 games this season across Europe's top six leagues are having more shots per game this season than Fernandes, and all of them are strikers or wide forwards. 

It does, at least, bode well that Fernandes is able to get into positions to shoot so often, even if he is - perhaps unsurprisingly given he is a midfielder - scoring less frequently than every other player who shoots this much, apart from Mario Balotelli.

What catches the eye about Fernandes is that he also creates as many chances as he has shot, with 3.7 chances created per game this season. His combined total of 7.3 shots and chances created per 90 minutes is the fourth-highest of any player in the top six European leagues this season. 

As can be seen from the below graph, he is in esteemed company.

The question for a team like Manchester United is whether Fernandes can transfer that kind of return from the sixth highest rated European league (according to Uefa's coefficient system) to the second.

Free-roaming midfielder

Fernandes has started a handful of matches behind a lone striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation this season and the majority of the rest on the right side of a midfield three.

It is interesting that Kevin De Bruyne is among the other players who also rank among the best in Europe for chances created and shots because while Fernandes has a long, long way to go before he will ever be compared to a player like De Bruyne, there are some similarities in what Fernandes does.

De Bruyne also plays on the right side of a midfield three for Manchester City, and is often found lurking around the top-right corner of the penalty area to whip crosses in to the back post. 

He is the best on the planet at doing that and Fernandes has had some success doing the same in Portugal, quite possibly in an attempt to copy the Belgian.

But Fernandes would have to learn to play a more disciplined role to make the step up to the Premier League. 

As one of the best players in Portugal he roams freely, popping up on the left wing and also making plenty of runs beyond the centre forward to get on the end of through balls, safe in the knowledge that he has two defensive midfielders behind him to mop up loose balls. 

De Bruyne, for example, is extremely quick to regain his position in central midfield once possession has been lost. That is what the biggest teams demand.

Fernandes also drops deep regularly to get the ball off the defence before spreading play further forwards, while some of his most eye-catching work has been in chipping balls over the top of a defence for wingers to run onto.

Strangely for a midfielder in his mould, he seems to do most of his damage picking passes from a deep position or running in behind.

Would he be a good fit at Manchester United?

Beyond the questions over whether 25-year-old Fernandes would be capable of adapting to the pace of the Premier League swiftly enough to be a worthwhile January signing, it will also be worth Ole Gunnar Solskjaer considering whether he is the player to solve their problems.

United need a creative player to provide the link between their midfield and attack, which have often felt like separate entities this season. They are at their best when they don't have much of the ball and are able to focus on counter-attacking through the speed of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Daniel James, but when teams sit back against them, they struggle to create many chances and could do with a creative midfielder to get behind the opposition midfield and slide passes through for the attackers.

Fernandes would certainly help but he is not the kind of player that drifts into positions between the lines, in the way that make the best No 10s so hard to defend against, much like peak-David Silva.

But nor is Jesse Lingard or Andreas Pereira that player, while Juan Mata is not the player he used to be and nor is he the long-term solution.

Bruno Fernandes has the potential to be that man, as long as United can agree a price they are willing to pay to take a punt on him.