Five Man Utd players Bruno Fernandes called 'quality' have all been sold

Bruno Fernandes will be left disappointed either by Manchester United's recent transfer sales or his own ability to spot a 'quality' player, after five teammates were sold off.

There's is no doubt how important Fernandes is to Erik ten Hag's side and he has worn the captain's armband for most of the season with Harry Maguire rarely picked.

Some wanted the Portugal star to lose the privilege when the team lost 7-0 to Liverpool earlier in the year but Ten Hag had no thought of making that change.

In fact the former Sporting player was so good throughout the campaign that he and Marcus Rashford actually made a better pairing than Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne.

Antony picked his teammate as having the best passing ability when trying to create his perfect midfielder, but didn't choose the Portugal player for his intelligence.

Whilst we wouldn't want to question his IQ or his football intelligence we do believe that being a scout might be out of the 28-year-old's range of skills.

Speaking back in 2020 just months after moving to Old Trafford, Fernandes was talking about the strength in depth that the team had.

On those who didn't regularly start, Bruno said: "We have a lot of quality on the bench," before going on to list said 'quality.'

"Odion [Ighalo] scored in the cup against Norwich and we also have players like Dan James, Jesse [Lingard], Juan [Mata], Chongy [Tahith Chong]."

Fernandes with Juan Mata during their time at United together. Image: Alamy

In the three years following the interview every single one on Brunio's 'quality' picks has left the club, without making too much more of an impact.

Juan Mata is certainly the most fondly remembered of the quintet at Old Trafford, having played there for eight and a half years.

However after Bruno's interview the World Cup winner only made 30 more appearances in all competitions across two seasons, before leaving for Galatasaray last year.

Odion Ighalo, a surprise loan signing the same January Bruno arrived, played one more Premier League game in the six months before going back to China, though he's now beating Cristiano Ronaldo to awards in the Saudi Pro League.

The chances of Jesse Lingard becoming a first team regular at United were ruined by Fernandes arriving, and he eventually left permanently last summer to join Nottingham Forest.

Tahith Chong never broke through into the first team and eventually joined Birmingham City whilst Dan James is at least one of the four players United have made a profit on in the past decade.

Topics: Football, Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United, Premier League, Daniel James, Juan Mata, Tahith Chong, Jesse Lingard

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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