To say it’s been a wild season for Manchester United this year would be a colossal understatement.
Despite being just 12 games into the Premier League season, the Red Devils are already onto their third manager, with Erik ten Hag being sacked last month, Ruud van Nistelrooy stepping in to steady the ship, and now Ruben Amorim, who is here to lead the club forwards.
While the Portuguese manager’s first game in charge of the club didn’t exactly go to plan, there is an undeniable sense of optimism around his appointment that he may well be the man to finally take United back to the top of English and European football.
He’s certainly got his work cut out, but he also has a plethora of extremely talented players at his disposal, including club captain Bruno Fernandes, although he’s currently being outperformed in the Premier League by a former academy gem who left the club in 2014.
Fernandes’ season so far
So, much like the team as a whole, it would be accurate to describe Fernandes’ league campaign as a bit up and down so far.
For example, under Ten Hag, the former Sporting CP star put in arguably some of his worst performances to date in a United shirt, and produced just two assists in nine league appearances while also picking up a red card against Tottenham Hotspur in an embarrassing 3-0 loss at Old Trafford.
However, since the Dutchman’s sacking, things have started to improve, and in his last three games alone, the 30-year-old midfielder has scored twice and provided one assist, on top of just looking generally more dangerous as well.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t produce a goal involvement in Amorim’s first game, but things are starting to look better for the Maia-born ace, even though a former United academy gem is outperforming him in the league.
The former academy gem outperforming Bruno
So, to cut straight to the point, the former academy gem in question is Everton star Dwight McNeil, who’s been enjoying a stellar Premier League campaign this year.
The 25-year-old was a part of the Red Devils youth set-up for several years before being released in 2014 at just 14 years old, and while that would have been the end for some, the Rochdale-born ace later described it as “character-building.”
He’d go on to join Burnley, where he scored seven goals and provided 17 assists in 147 appearances before earning a £20m move to Everton in 2022.
McNeil’s senior career | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Competition | PL | FA Cup | EFL Cup | UEL Qaulifying |
Appearances | 216 | 9 | 13 | 2 |
Goals | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Assists | 29 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Goal Involvements* | 0.22 | 0.00 | 0.15 | 0.00 |
All Stats via Transfermarkt (*Per Match) | ||||
Life on Merseyside hasn’t necessarily been easy for the former Red Devil, as seasons of battling relegation have surely taken their toll. Yet, so far this year, the dynamic midfielder has looked unburdened by the pressure of survival and is potentially playing his best football ever.
For example, in just 11 league appearances, the “magic” maestro, as dubbed by football journalist Joe Thomas, has scored three goals and provided three assists, meaning he’s already beating Fernandes’ output by one goal.
However, that’s not where his superiority over the Portuguese ace ends this season, as according to FBref, he also has him beat for shot-creating actions, key passes, passes into the penalty area, goal-creating actions and take-ons, all per 90.
Now, with all of that said, if you were to ask fans who they’d prefer to have in their teams, the majority would likely say Fernandes, and for good reasons.
However, for this season at least, McNeil is comfortably outperforming the former Sporting CP star, and while it might not remain that way for the entire campaign, we’d certainly be interested to see how he’d get on in a more dangerous team, like United.
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