Everyone knows how much it means to Bruno Fernandes to captain Manchester United. It was written all over his face when he learned that he would wear the armband for the first time.
The news was delivered by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer during the middle of a press conference conducted over Zoom in the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic. Fernandes was seated alongside Solskjaer, his face taking up much of the unorthodox webcam framing.
“The captain sits next to me,” Solskjaer said, out of nowhere. “Bruno will captain the team tomorrow.”
When he heard those words, Fernandes picked his head up, turned to Solskjaer then glanced around the room. A pair of raised eyebrows and a smirk were sent to someone sitting in front of him.
“I was not expecting this. I knew at the same time as you,” he said. “Of course, it’s an honour.”
It was a nice moment — a playful but genuinely thoughtful way of breaking the news on Solskjaer’s part — and a mark of the impact that Fernandes had already made at United, despite his Old Trafford career still being less than a year old.
He had joined in January of that year, not even two weeks after Solskjaer had named Harry Maguire as his new captain. Maguire himself had only been a United player for five months before stepping into the role he was stripped of last weekend.
Maguire’s disappointment at that decision is natural and understandable but after losing his starting place and sliding down the pecking order, it was not a surprise. And nor is the identity of his replacement.
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Not that Erik ten Hag was short of options. As with the wide field of candidates for the club’s player of the year award at the end of last season, the number of leaders in United’s dressing room is another sign of the progress made over the past year.
At another point in United’s recent history, one of Casemiro, Raphael Varane, Luke Shaw or Marcus Rashford would have been an automatic choice. All are prominent figures in the dressing room and are likely to form part of a leadership group around the permanent captain.
Yet having led his United team-mates out in all the games that he started when Maguire did not feature last season, Fernandes was always the outstanding candidate.
A decision still needed to be made and communicated and, as Ten Hag made clear in Oslo during the club’s pre-season tour, the call would be his and not a collective decision of the dressing room.
Ten Hag had still not told the players of his decision on Wednesday before flying to the U.S., partly because the squad’s staggered return to pre-season training meant he had not been able to bring all the players together as one group. United’s players were informed in a team meeting on their first morning at their New Jersey base.
Despite Maguire’s disappointment, a change had to be made. Any club would find it unsustainable to have a non-playing captain over the long term and even in the United dressing room last season, that uncertainty over the squad hierarchy had an effect at times.
Some players, for example, were reticent to make speeches in the dressing room as they did not want to be perceived to be undermining Maguire.
Even attempts at organising nights out were laced with awkwardness: should Maguire be the one to arrange a get-together despite the fact he wasn’t playing? Or should another player sort out a squad social, even though they were not the captain?
Questions like that sound trivial — especially outside of English football, where the level of importance attached to who wears the armband can seem arcane or just downright bizarre.
But a dressing-room hierarchy has as much meaning as that dressing room attaches to it. United are far from the only club to place significance upon the role and have a proud tradition of captains. They are far from the only club to have a manager, in Ten Hag, who values order, discipline and structure.
Ten Hag has turned to Fernandes because, even without the honour, prestige and sometimes the burden of the captain’s armband, the Portuguese has represented the culture of high standards that he wants to implement.
In Ten Hag’s eyes, Fernandes’ knowledge of the game and strength as a communicator helped him emerge as United’s de facto leader in Maguire’s absence across the course of last season. And though nothing was guaranteed until the decision was revealed to the players on Thursday, there were clues along the way.
In April last season, injury threatened to prevent Fernandes from playing at Tottenham Hotspur and his availability, one of his greatest strengths as a player and leader, was suddenly in question.
Nevertheless, Fernandes was walking a little gingerly around Carrington without the aid of crutches or a protective boot a day before the game. He travelled with the squad to north London, started and played the full 90 minutes, assisting Rashford in a 2-2 draw.
In his pre-match media rounds, Ten Hag made it known he was delighted by Fernandes’ determination to play.
“He’s tough, he takes responsibility, he wants to play,” he said. “We’re happy he’s there because he’s a big player for us and he makes a big impact in every game. He’s our captain, so we’re really happy.”
That could have been passed off as just a stray comment — but Ten Hag talked up Fernandes’ leadership qualities further after the final whistle.
“I think he is the example that you have to suffer, have to decide if you wish to sacrifice, if you want to play or don’t play, if at this level you want to achieve something,” he said. “Once again, he showed there what a great captain he is.”
Ten Hag has never been in doubt with regard to Fernandes’ suitability, even when others have called it into question. The 28-year-old’s habit of not only remonstrating with officials but also his own team-mates is not to everyone’s taste. Bouts of frustration have become a trademark.
After the chastening 7-0 defeat to Liverpool in March, Fernandes was roundly criticised for perceived displays of petulance. On commentary, Gary Neville said it “wasn’t a captain’s performance”. Ten Hag dismissed questions over his suitability as a leader as crazy.
Ask Fernandes about his style of leadership and he will tell you that he is simply doing the only thing he can do: he is being himself.
“It’s something that comes naturally to me,” he told The Athletic last year. “It’s not something that I try and do in training. Even in normal life, I try to help people. My mum and my dad made me understand that if you can help the next person, do it. If that means speaking, then I speak.”
In that sense, there should be no anxiety about stepping up to the plate, no risk of imposter syndrome. Fernandes only needs to keep doing what he is doing, which is what he has always done. “I don’t try to be a leader,” he said, “I am how I am.”
That competitive and unforgiving edge on the pitch may be what Fernandes is known for, but it is matched by a responsible and compassionate side off it, as those involved in the club’s community work through the Manchester United Foundation will attest.
Due to their World Cup commitments last Christmas, United’s players recorded video messages for children spending the festive period in hospital rather than making their usual in-person visit. Fernandes, though, did not understand why they could not go anyway once they had returned and gave his personal number to the staff at the Foundation to rearrange a trip.
That enthusiasm for the wider aspects of being United captain — something Maguire always demonstrated too — is as big a part of the role as leading team-mates out at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag ultimately wants to build a team of leaders equipped with the winning mindset that he sees as fundamental to his vision of football. In Fernandes, he believes he has the perfect embodiment.
(Top photo: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
