Man Utd captain Fernandes named Premier League Player of the Season

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has won the Premier League's Player of the Season award for 2025-26.

Fernandes has enjoyed an exceptional individual campaign for the Red Devils, registering 20 assists with one Premier League game still to go.

He has tied the all-time single-season record, matching Thierry Henry in 2002-03 and Kevin De Bruyne in 2019-20, and can surpass them outright away at Brighton on Sunday.

The Portugal international has also scored eight goals, with his 28 goal contributions overall only being bettered by Erling Haaland's 35 (27 goals, eight assists).

Fernandes' 132 chances created are at least 58 more than any other player, with Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai a distant second on 74.

He has created 95 of those chances from open play, putting him well clear of second-placed Jeremy Doku (59), while his 37 chances created from set-pieces are tied with Szoboszlai for the most of any player.

Fernandes is the first United player to land the award since Nemanja Vidic did so in 2010-11, which was the fifth consecutive campaign in which a Red Devils player had landed the prize (also Cristiano Ronaldo in 2006-07 and 2007-08, Vidic in 2008-09 and Wayne Rooney in 2009-10).

The seven different players to win the award while representing United (also Peter Schmeical in 1995-96, Dwight Yorke in 1998-99 and Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2002-03) are a competition record, as are the nine total awards won by players while at Old Trafford.

Fernandes beat out competition from title-winning Arsenal trio Gabriel Magalhaes, David Raya and Declan Rice, Manchester City pair Haaland and Antoine Semenyo, Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White and Brentford striker Igor Thiago.

United are guaranteed to finish third regardless of the result of Sunday's meeting with Brighton, having confirmed Michael Carrick as their permanent head coach on Friday.