Bruno Fernandes has already collected more individual hardware this summer than most players see in a career. But the Manchester United captain just added another nomination to his growing list — this time for the PFA Player of the Month award for May — and the underlying stat line is what makes his 2025/26 campaign genuinely historic.
Twenty-one assists. That’s the number that now sits alone atop the Premier League record books. Fernandes entered the season tied with Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne at 20, but a late-season surge — fueled by a tactical shift after Michael Carrick replaced Ruben Amorim as manager — pushed him past both legends. The Portuguese playmaker finished with nine goals to go with those 21 assists, a dual-threat output that carried United to a third-place finish and a return to Champions League football.
Carrick’s first major move as interim boss was subtle but decisive: he restored Fernandes to his natural No. 10 role, giving him freedom to drift and create rather than stick to rigid passing lanes. The result was immediate. United won three of their four May matches, beating Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, and Brighton. The only blemish was a scoreless draw at Sunderland, a result that says more about the Black Cats’ defensive organization than any United failing.
Fernandes was the engine in all three wins. Against Liverpool, his header forced keeper Freddie Woodman into a spill that Benjamin Sesko turned into the game-sealing second goal. Against Forest, he delivered his 20th assist of the season, setting up Bryan Mbeumo with surgical precision. On the final day against Brighton, he scored one and added his record-breaking 21st assist — a fitting cap to a season that also saw him sweep United’s Player of the Year, the Premier League Player of the Season, and the Football Writers’ Player of the Year awards.
Now he’s up for May’s PFA Player of the Month, competing against Erling Haaland, William Osula, David Raya, Adrien Truffert, and Ollie Watkins. The award is voted on by players, and if history is any guide, Fernandes is the heavy favorite — though Haaland’s goal tally in May could make it closer than expected.
The bigger prize, however, still looms. The PFA Player of the Year award for the full season will be handed out in August, and Fernandes is widely considered the front-runner. If he wins, it would complete a clean sweep of every major individual honor available to a Premier League player — a feat that underscores just how dominant he was in a season that started under a cloud of uncertainty and ended with his name etched into the record books.
Fans can cast a vote for May’s award online, but the real question is whether United can build around a 31-year-old creator who just delivered the finest playmaking season the league has ever seen.
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