Roy Keane says Bruno Fernandes won’t win any more trophies at Manchester United and described the narrative around his pursuit of the Premier League assists record at the weekend as a “circus”.
Fernandes’ bid to equal the mark of 20 assists in a single top-flight season was achieved on Sunday in the 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest, the Portuguese setting up Bryan Mbeumo’s goal at the Stretford End.
With nothing at stake for either side, the major storyline seemed to be around the record and Keane, who was there in his role as a pundit for Sky Sports, was unimpressed.
I was raging – Keane goes in two-footed on Manchester United and Fernandes
The former United captain said on Stick to Football: “I think what I heard at United at the weekend… honestly, I was raging with it.
“The whole chat about his assists. And everyone’s talking about assists, he did an interview after the match, after the game, and I was watching him and everyone was talking about assists and even the players were… The game was about his assists. That’s the whole talk.
“After the game he got interviewed and he said in his interview, the captain of Man United, he said, ‘Yeah, a few times I probably should’ve…. He said this himself, ‘I should have shot but, uh, I made them passes’. Wow! How can your mindset of a footballer be going out to a match and be talking about some individual recognition?
“He’s going to get all them stats anyway. But for it to be the main point about Man United’s performance at the weekend, I was cringing with all of them. And all the players when he got the assist, going over to him. What about the guy who scored the goal?”.
Keane dismisses suggestion Manchester United will win more silverware with Fernandes as captain
Fellow host Gary Neville attempted to defend Fernandes, who has one FA Cup and one EFL Cup to show for six years at Old Trafford, and point out he has spoken regularly about wanting to win silverware with United but Keane was having none of it.
“He won’t be winning trophies,” said the Irishman. “Not with that mindset of the team, where they’ve given up two goals and everyone’s getting all giddy because he’s equalled a record for assists. It’s mind-boggling. It’s mind-boggling.
“It’s a circus act. Bruno gives a pass and he [Mbeumo] misses it. What did Bruno do after he missed it? You watched it. Why is he falling on the f***ing floor? Excuse me.
“He wasn’t disappointed for the striker who’s having a bit of a difficult spell and missed a couple of chances. He’s thinking about his assist, and he doesn’t – he doesn’t get his assist.”
Fernandes will have the chance to break the record he holds alongside Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne when United go to Brighton this weekend.
