Everything Bruno Fernandes had to say on Michael Carrick, Man Utd future and more

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He has led from the front for Manchester United this season as they clinched a return to the Champions League and Europe's elite.

He still has a Premier League record in his sights. And now Bruno Fernandes also has the Football Writers' Association Player of the Year award in his grasp as a reward for his fine form during the 2025-26 campaign.

The Portugal playmaker has been a pillar of consistency in a Manchester United side that has significantly improved under Michael Carrick.

Fernandes spoke about his accomplishments this season, his Old Trafford future and the impact Carrick has made in a wide-ranging interview with Mirror Football 's John Cross...

Many congratulations, Bruno. You were such a clear winner. What does the award mean to you?

“Obviously it’s always nice to see a lot of people have voted for you and I know this is a massive award in the UK and for me it’s very special to do it.

“I know that the club have not had a winner since 2010 with Wayne Rooney and that makes it even more special for me.

“It also comes from people who follow football from all around the UK, people who work in the background behind the players and it makes it very special.

There are a lot of people who watch you week-in and week-out, so how nice is that admiration from the journalists who watch you?

“Of course, you like to see good things out there about you - you don’t like it as much when it’s not so good - but it’s part of the job, obviously when these moments come, I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be here on behalf of the people who voted for me and also the ones who didn’t vote for me and who made other choices.

“Obviously everyone has different opinion, different tastes, but I’m very happy and very honoured to receive this award.

This means you are in very esteemed company and join some United greats who have won this award down the years. Wayne Rooney was the last winner but also George Best, Sir Bobby Charlton, Cristiano Ronaldo, Teddy Sheringham, Roy Keane. Some great players.

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“It means a lot, I’ve always said that I’d rather it was a collective award rather than individual ones but, as a player, you would rather this type of occasion to also show you are doing things right.

“But also I want to achieve everything that those players achieved in terms of winning with the club. But being in their company with this award is massively important for me and I won’t hide from that.

“We know, as I’ve said before, it’s a collective job what we do but when individually you get recognised for what you’ve done during the season it feels very special.

You have a really special connection at United with the club, the fans and the staff. Do you feel loved there and what does that mean to you?

“You feel like it’s very tough especially if you are at a club for a long time, sometimes people want to see new faces, new people coming in trying to win and replicate things that were done in the past by other players.

“But I really feel the love and support from the fans every time I step out onto the pitch at Old Trafford because they believe in me as one of their own and I always try and replicate for them what they have seen so many times coming in to Old Trafford.

“I just try and do the best I can to make them proud while at the same time making sure we are as successful as possible.

This season it has been about assists for you. You know how close you are to breaking the record of 20 assists in a season held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne. How much of a target is that for you?

“I’ve said before it’s a very special record because it’s owned by Thierry and Kevin. They were standout players in the Premier League for many, many years and it would be great to do it.

“But I don’t want to focus on that so much because we want to achieve our targets and what was possible for us and one of those was to get back in the Champions League places. We wanted to get back into the European places and to be back in the Champions League is even better.

“Part of my game is creating chances, getting the ball to my teammates and helping them score goals so if I have the chance to score my own ones then I will be happy to take them.

“That record will be an amazing achievement but not something I want to really focus on.

Of all your assists this season, my favourite is your pass for Bryan Mbeumo in the Manchester derby. Do you have a favourite? “From this season, I have a lot of them that I like. People talk about the set-pieces a lot and many have come set-pieces and when you see Casemiro scoring a goal or from a header he tells me exactly where he wants me to put the ball.

“Sometimes it’s more difficult than to make that run that I did for 40 or 50 metres thinking about trying to move the centre back, trying to get him to move on the wrong side to give more space to Bryan.

“Sometimes it’s more difficult because you have to put the ball exactly where you want - and he still has to have the quality to head it in - in the same way that Bryan had to put the ball in.

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“But in terms of certain aspects of the game, changing managers, difficult weeks - we had two games before that which were not going our way - we had Burnley away, we were winning but then we got knocked out of the FA Cup and then we had to play City at home who we know are big rivals for us.

“Also it is such an important game, an important game for us to turn things around and do different things this season.

Michael Carrick - what an impact he has had. How enjoyable has it been to work under him and would he be a good choice?

“I said many times that I’ve worked under before as an assistant manager, I had the opportunity to be with him for three games and I always said that Michael has a great character to become a top manager and the qualities everyone could see he had as a player.

“When as a player you can think and see the game as a player as he was doing, you can also do it from the bench. It’s a different thing but when you have that calmness from the bench and that experience you know there could be a potential manager and he’s showing that.

“He did very well at Middlesbrough. It didn’t work out for him this season - maybe luckily! Because then he was available for the club and then he had the chance to come back and he has done an amazing job for the end of the season.

“It’s going to be on the club to make a decision as to whether they keep faith with him or to go on another way.

Bruno - it is so obvious that you are passionate. You wear your heart on your sleeve and the fans respect that about you because it shows how much you care.

“I am very bad at hiding my emotions! I really show what I feel and I’m not afraid of it. Some people take it one way, positive and others take it negatively.

“But I can’t change the way I am. It’s phrased on me and it’s not something I can change from one day to the other. I can’t just become a different person.

“You can adapt yourself, you can improve, you can learn and I’m doing that every day. Obviously you can become a better player, a better person, a better captain, a better teammate and I will always try to do that until the end of my career.

How much of an ambition is it for you now to win a major trophy with Manchester United?

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“It will always be the prize for me. That’s always what my goal has been. I’ve never hidden from that. As I said before, I’m not very good at hiding things!

“I speak out whenever I want on what I want to achieve and what I want to achieve is winning the league and winning the Champions League. I will never hide from that in the same way I wanted to win the FA Cup and Carabao Cup and we did it.

“Unfortunately for me, I was not able to bring the Europa League home but I won’t hide, any time that we, as a club, are back playing in the Europa League my aim will be to get that trophy.

“Obviously going into next season, we all know that the aim of this club always has to be winning. I think in the first place when a player chooses to come to Man United it’s not because you just want to wear the shirt.

“That’s a big feeling and it’s a big thing to walk out at Old Trafford and that was the dream I had but I had that dream because I knew the club could win things and be close to winning the Premier League and Champions League. That’s why I came to this club.

Is it still achievable and is it something you feel you can do during your time at the club?

“For me, they have to be. You start the season with zero points with everyone else and with the Champions League with zero points and you have to go to the knock-out stages.

“You always have to think the tie could be 50-50 depending on who you are playing against and the chances are always there for both teams. You just have to take your chances.

You have a very exciting finish to the season. The Portugal midfield - wow! That must be exciting to play in. Do you feel you can achieve a lot with Portugal this summer?

“Of course. I think the dream is there. Portugal has never done it and I think we are in the stage where we have played a World Cup together already, many of us were together in Qatar when we couldn’t get the trophy.

“But our aim will always be to try and go as far as possible to win that trophy and, as I said, we have such a beautiful squad, such good players and doing very well in their clubs.

“Now for us, whenever the season finishes, we just have to focus on that and to bring the best out of each other in a short period of time - a little bit more than a month - trying to get home on July 20."

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