There was never this narrative when Luis Suárez, Riyad Mahrez & N’Golo Kanté won PFA POTY without playing in Europe. None of them played for Manchester United.
Of course Bruno Fernandes deserved the award. His peers voted him to win it. How is that not deserving? Every single one up for grabs went to him, wonder why.
Why should the award go to the title winners? That's quite literally what the title is for. This is for the best, most outstanding player. Not just on the best team.
Is it outstanding if it's only Premier League games.. what kind of argument is that? His goals & assists won his club the 2nd most points any individual ever has.
One of the best aspects of his season was big game performances. He scored at OT vs Chelsea & an assist at OT vs City, assists in wins at Anfield & the Emirates.
People can keep trying to pick holes but he broke what was once thought an unbreakable record. You can't 'spam' that, he created 58 more chances than anyone.
The discourse is beyond disrespectful now, but at the end of the day history will remember Bruno fondly & there's not a single thing any of them can do about it.
Manchester City bought Savinho (flop) for £30.8M and sold him for £85M.
Chelsea bought Delap (flop) for £30M and sold him for £45M upfront.
Real Madrid sold academy graduate Gonzalo Garcia for £40M.
INEOS paid Spurs £4M + £4M for Tynan Thompson who has not played a single first team minute.
And now they’re selling Toby Collyer for just £3. A player with valuable first team experience at Manchester United and Championship experience.
This is another example of how poorly Manchester United are marketing and valuing the players in the transfer market.
What is wrong with this club?
This has happened before. Twice, in fact as far as I know, and each time the same thing brought it to an end.
The first was in 2018, when a young Ajax academy player named Sean Steur walked onto the Johan Cruyff Arena pitch before the club's home game against AZ and started juggling. He reached 2,245 touches before officials had to stop him because the professional match was about to start.
The second was in 2024, Zinedine Chaiat did the same thing before the Telstar fixture and reached 2,424 before the clock forced the same intervention. Both times, reports suggested kick-off was briefly delayed.
This time, Syb Zeldenthuis walked out before Ajax's home game against Sion and broke both records. He reached 3,085 touches before officials stepped in for the same reason as always. The match was about to begin.
This is the Richard Witschge-Bokaal culture, one of Ajax's longer running academy traditions. Selected Under-11 players take the Arena pitch before first-team home games and attempt the highest possible keepy-uppy count, competing for a trophy named after Richard Witschge's performance in the 1997 Klassieker.
It is not a one-off event. It happens across the season as part of Ajax's technical development programme. The kids train specifically for it. First-team players and full stadium crowds routinely stop to watch what begins as a simple skills exercise and turns into a stadium moment.
Three times now, the stadium moment has collided with the clock. Three times, a young boy has been stopped not because he faltered, but because he was too good to finish on his own terms.
This is football heritage.
My name is Ajoje. I am a FIFA Licensed Agent and International Sports Lawyer. I write on the Law and Business of Football, a lot. Repost and Follow if you want to read more posts like this.
Scored 18 Premier League goals at 37 and was labelled a problem because he was supposedly “holding back” the progress of the young players.
Since he left and the young players were free to develop:
- Greenwood ended up at Fenerbahce
- Absolutely nobody wants to sign Rashford
- Jadon Sancho is a free agent at 26
- Elanga ended up at Newcastle
Since Ronaldo left, not a single United player has managed to score 18 Premier League goals.
It’s sad how United fans are actually allergic to great players.
FC Sabah have won the Champions League title 15 times less than Real Madrid, 6 times less than Liverpool, 3 times less than Manchester United but astonishingly they have won the same amount of times as Arsenal Football Club.
Most shots without scoring on the opening weekend of the Premier League:
21 — Manchester United
20 —
19 —
18 —
17 —
16 —
15 —
14 —
13 —
12 — Forest
11 — Palace
Time to put that right at Old Trafford. 🤝