Such is the indestructible immortality of United's omnipresent captain, it is one we thought we'd never need to actually consider.
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| Man Utd captain Bruno Fernandes |
But we will very soon find out the answer and I suspect it won't be nice. Strap yourselves in, folks. One of the most durable players in football has finally broken.
There were plenty of positives to take from the trip to Villa Park, despite the result. United played well for long periods but went down 2-1. But the result wasn't even the worst part of the day. Fernandes pulled up with a hamstring injury shortly before half-time. He didn't re-emerge for the second half and, although we battled gamely without him, it was clear the injury was serious. It had to be for him to come off. This is a guy who played on one leg in an FA Cup final for the cause and has played through the pain barrier on more than one occasion. He has a high pain threshold and is never substituted.
United depleted and squad looks thin
The timing could not be worse. Fernandes famously never gets injured then, just as Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo leave for AFCON, he pulls his hammy. To add insult to injury, the man who would've replaced him in midfield, Kobbie Mainoo, is also sidelined. It is rotten luck and someone somewhere has a very warped sense of humour. Merry bloody Christmas. Added to defensive injuries in Mathijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire, United have eight senior first team players unavailable.
Of course, injuries are part of the game but all of ours have been to our most important players all at the same time at the most crucial part of the campaign.
We've had barely any injuries all season and then our most important player is struck down just when we needed him most. What are the chances... you couldn't write it could you?
Whilst the true extent of his injury is still unknown, a soft muscle injury is a month out at the very least. A Grade One tear is a few days to a few weeks, a Grade Two is up to a month and a Grade Three, a severe tear could see him face up to four months on the sidelines. It is a Nightmare before Christmas for United and Ruben Amorim.
United are traditionally reluctant buyers in January but may have no choice to bulk up a depleted squad beset by injuries. Antoine Semenyo is sought after but the real problems are in midfield. Elliot Anderson and Adam Wharton are high on the wishlist but both players scream of summer signings.
Ever-present Fernandes finally broken
Fernandes absence from the side is so rare the stats look like something out of a simulation.
He has missed only three games through non-suspension reasons since signing for United six years ago in January. One was against Spurs in March 2022 (3-2 win, CR hat-trick) and the other two coming at the tail end of 2023-24 when he was managing a knee injury in the run up to the FA Cup final. Those pair of matches ended in 1-0 and 4-0 losses to Arsenal and Palace, respectively.
Those two latter losses show just how vital United's string-puller in chief is. Even if his Hollywood passing and occasionally volatile outbursts can frustrate, his ability and influence on this side cannot be questioned. He is our talisman, the one truly world class player in this team and our main creative force. Even in a deeper midfield role alongside Casemiro this season, he has five goals and seven assists. For a squad still excelling in the art of consistent inconsistency, Fernandes metronomic effervescence has been a familiar calming presence and one we've taken for granted. He is the one player we have who would get in any other Premier League club's# XI.
In 292 games with Fernandes starting, our win rate is 51.7%. That drops to 45.2% without him. In the Premier League, it's 208 games with him (48.6%) but 29.4% without him.
What do United do now in the skipper's absence?
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| Amad & Fernandes |
There are two main problems: First, how on earth do you replace him? Second... how long will he be out for?
United have been playing one game a week but, after the Newcastle game, have four games in a fortnight culminating in the FA Cup third rounder with Brighton. Traditional big hitters Arsenal and Manchester City loom large on the horizon after that. By then, you'd hope Fernandes will be back but you cannot rush hamstring injuries, no matter how physically and mentally tough you are.
United don't have a ready-made replacement or another attacking option at no.8. Mainoo is the closest we have to Fernandes quality and profile, but his own injury means his wait for a first league start of the season will go on. Even when he returns, there is nothing to suggest he will become an automatic starter in Fernandes absence - Mainoo has his own problems and has fallen down the pecking order under Amorim. United could turn to another out of favour player, Joshua Zirkzee, to come in to the side as one of the no.10s with Mason Mount dropping alongside Casemiro in the Fernandes role. That would allow us to have two strikers on the pitch but keep our shape and system the same in the 3-4-2-1, or alternatively an extra man in midfield in a rejigged 4-3-3.
Jack Fletcher, teenage son of United player-turned-coach Darren, became Academy graduate number 255 when he replaced Benjamin Sesko in the 73rd minute. He looked neat and tidy and put himself about in an eye-catching cameo, but it's asking a lot of an 18-year-old rookie to slot into the high intensity cauldron of the Premier League and expect him to adequately replace Fernandes.
Amorim raised eyebrows when Lisandro Martinez came on in midfield at half time at Villa Park but he was excellent and looked like he'd played there all his life. Licha has the skillset to fulfill a central midfield role having done so for Ajax and Argentina in the past and looks a genuine option. Amorim has said he would only consider it in an emergency but we are surely at that point now? One thing's for sure... we cannot continue to persist with Manuel Ugarte who is starting to look like one of the worst signings in United history.
We're down to the bare bones at a time when the frantic festive fixtures stretch squads to the limit.