Man Utd have a player who topped the Premier League charts in 2024 for key metric, he was a machine

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Manchester United objectively had their worst year in the Premier League since the competition in its current form began back in 1992.

They finished the 2023/24 season at their worst-ever place, eighth, before somehow managing to top that in the first half of the 2024/25 season.

With half the season played, Man Utd are on the third manager of the season (including interim), and sit 14th, just seven points away from the relegation zone.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
12	BrentfordBrentford	19	7	3	9	33	35	-2	24
13	West HamWest Ham	19	6	5	8	23	35	-12	23
14	Man UtdManchester United	19	6	4	9	21	26	-5	22
15	Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace	19	4	8	7	20	27	-7	20
16	EvertonEverton	18	3	8	7	15	24	-9	17

Key:

Position 1 – 4 : Champions League
Position 5 : UEFA Europa League
Position 18 – 20 : Relegation

Over the whole of 2024, United sit 10th in the league table with 51 points from 37 games, “earning” a goal difference of -1.

That’s not the form of a team whose player will top any charts across the whole league, definitely not any positive metrics, but Man Utd have a player who overcame that adversity.

Bruno Fernandes sets the pace in the Premier League

Since signing for the club in 2020, it’s pretty much been the story of Bruno Fernandes‘ career. Regardless of how the team is doing, Fernandes can always be relied upon to deliver the goods.

The only difference between a successful United and a failing one is how regularly they take the chances created by their Portuguese Magnifico.

The “strength” of United’s team in the absence of Fernandes has been laid bare multiple times and happened again recently in their limp surrender at home to Newcastle.

The absolute mess in which Fernandes is operating has become clear once again as it has emerged that he was the player who created the most chances in the Premier League in 2024.

With 99 chances created, he sits above Cole Palmer at 2nd, who created 97, but it is the other numbers surrounding that one that gives context to Fernandes’ madness.

United scored just 56 goals in 2024 while Cole Palmer’s Chelsea scored 81 in the same number of games – 37. Fernandes’ teammates routinely wasted chances created by him and that is also reflected in the assist and scoring numbers of the two.

Palmer had 26 goals and 13 assists in the calendar year, a total that is just barely crossed by Fernandes only when the entirety of the 2023/24 season and half of the 2024/25 season is included.

That is a remarkable gap in raw output considering Fernandes leads in chances created, and speaks volumes about where the two teams are.

Man Utd players around Fernandes need to step up

Fernandes has been criticised often for throwing tantrums of frustration but if any player was in his position, doing everything to drag the team forward only for the team to say “no thank you”, they’d probably have a similar reaction.

If the team converts the chances created by him even at an average clip, they’d easily be much better off at the table and in the dressing room.

For his part, Fernandes doesn’t even use his attacking output to work less hard on the defensive end in stark contrast to players whose work rate is questioned even when they are not producing goals or assists.

Stats have always loved Fernandes’ high-risk-high-reward style of play but under Ruben Amorim, he’s even shown the inclination to evolve, retaining possession and minimising the risk of transitions.

All this speaks of a consummate professional who’s the ideal team player, but also one whose prime is being wasted in a dysfunctional team.

Hopefully, his fellow Portuguese, Amorim, can bring some sense to chaos and the team will start using him better.