Mirror: Little Ballon D'or hope,Bruno Fernandes can pursue PL Player of the Year

The Mirror points out that unless the Portuguese national team wins the World Cup, Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes will miss out on the Ballon d'Or, but he is very likely to win the Premier League Player of the Year award.

Paul Pogba said that if Bruno Fernandes played for Manchester City, he would be fully capable of competing for the Ballon d'Or, which is self-evident. Manchester City have already won a trophy and are likely to add another before the end of the season.

Manchester City are firmly in the ranks of Europe's top clubs, and their overall strength is still at its peak. If Fernandes played for Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich, he would definitely be a favorite for the Ballon d'Or, but Manchester United, where he is, has never been in contention for any title this season.

Manchester United were surprisingly eliminated by Grimsby in the League Cup, and also lost to Brighton in the FA Cup. Fernandes is indispensable to Manchester United, but if he goes to strong teams like Manchester City, Bayern, or Paris, his core value may be greatly reduced.

Imagine how he would perform in a top team: as long as he can lead Portugal to win the World Cup, even if the club only plays 40 games throughout the season, he can still be shortlisted for the Ballon d'Or.

But objectively speaking, the probability of Portugal winning the World Cup is not high, and Fernandes' hope of winning the Ballon d'Or is slim. However, he is fully capable of winning the individual honors in England.

He is a core favorite for the FWA Footballer of the Year and the PFA Players' Player of the Year.

Most voters tend to choose the core players of teams with excellent records. Manchester City are expected to win the treble, and Arsenal also have the opportunity to win a major double honor.

But among the Manchester City lineup, who is most qualified to be nominated? Rayan Cherki has only recently seen an outbreak of form, Haaland's consistently efficient scoring performance has long been taken for granted, and Bernardo Silva is often overlooked by the outside world.

On the Arsenal side, Declan Rice performed brightly in the first half of the season, but his recent performance has been mediocre given his top level. Moreover, individual awards are rarely given to defenders and goalkeepers.

David Raya is qualified to compete, but the last goalkeeper to be elected Football Writers' Association Player of the Year dates back to Neville Southall in the 1984-85 season. Ruben Dias in the 2020-21 season was the first defender to win the award since Steve Nicol in the 1988-89 season.

In the PFA Player of the Year award, Peter Shilton is the only goalkeeper to have won the award, and in the past two decades, only Virgil van Dijk has won the honor as a defender. Arsenal is based on a solid defense, but defensive players are difficult to be recognized in individual awards.

Therefore, the two major Player of the Year awards for the season are entirely possible to be won by players outside the top two in the league, and Fernandes is the most deserving candidate. Regardless of the change of coach, he always goes all out, not just to cater to a coach who is expected to stay for a long time and temporarily improve his form.

Whether he is playing different roles under Ruben Amorim or now playing for Michael Carrick, his performance has always been stable and excellent, and his various statistics are very bright.

He is only two assists away from the Premier League's single-season record of 20 assists. By the end of the season, his assist-to-goal ratio is bound to set a new Premier League record.

This core data is very convincing: more than 31% of Manchester United's Premier League goals this season have come from his assists. When De Bruyne provided 20 assists in the 2019/20 season, the ratio was only 19.6%.

The data is only part of it. Fernandes not only performs well on the field, but also establishes a good public image off the field.

Even if Haaland has a strong outbreak at the end of the season and helps Manchester City win the league title, he may win the award with his outstanding performance. But if he fails to do so, Bruno Fernandes is definitely the best choice for Player of the Year.