Fernandes lays out ambitious Manchester United target for rest of the season

Manchester United playmaker Bruno Fernandes has set himself a personal target for the rest of the Premier League season: to rack up more goals and assists than appearances.

It’s a lofty target. But the Portuguese star is already ahead of schedule.

He’s played in all 13 of United‘s league games so far. And his current combined tally is 14 after nine goals and five assists.

Overall since his January move, it’s 29 goal involvements in 27 Premier League games. In other words, it seems a legitimate target for Fernandes to go at.

He told the club’s website: “I think, as I’ve said before, it’s easy when you play in a team like Manchester because there are so many­­ good players around you.

“They help you to be better and I am here to help them be better.

“So I think, of course, numbers are really good but it is now that I need to start to improve.

“It will be more difficult from now and I mean difficult day-by-day and game-by-game because the players will know me better.

“Of course, I am really happy to have these numbers. And, obviously, it is not easy to get to this point with these numbers but I want to do better and better, more and more.

“I want to finish the Premier League this season with more goals and assists than games. That would be good.”

Winning is key for Fernandes

Fernandes added to his goal tally with two in the wild 6-2 victory over Leeds at the weekend.

That took the 26-year-old to 25 goals in 45 appearances since arriving in England from Sporting Lisbon.

He was asked if the Leeds game was one of the most entertaining matches he’s played in.

“I think, yes,” he said. “I think yes, of course, when you score lots of goals, you are happy. You are not happy to concede two goals. We want to have clean sheets, of course, but I think, at the end of the day, the most important thing was that it doesn’t matter if we score six or not.

“If we score three, it was enough, 3-2 and we go home with the three points. That’s the most important thing.

“Of course, we want to win and we want to score goals. We want to show our best qualities we can but the most important thing for us, for the team, is winning.

“We know the fans want to see goals, skills, some magic things but the most important thing, for us, and what we need to think about, is winning.”