Fernandes: Winning trophies with Man Utd more important than individual awards

Manchester, December 31: Bruno Fernandes will take greater satisfaction from lifting trophies with Manchester United than winning individual accolades.

The Portugal international has been in fine form since joining United from Sporting CP for £47million (€55m) in January, scoring 26 times and setting up 16 more in 45 outings.

That includes 10 goals and seven assists in the English top flight this term, making him the first Portuguese player to reach double figures for goals in the competition since Cristiano Ronaldo in 2008-09.

Fernandes' total of 32 goal involvements since his debut on February 1 is more than any other player in the Premier League, with Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah (27) and Tottenham striker Harry Kane (26) next on the list.

That form has seen the attacking midfielder secure three Premier League Player of the Month awards already - only the third player to achieve that feat in a calendar year, along with Ashley Young and Harry Kane.

He is a strong contender to be crowned the PFA Player of the Year come the end of 2020-21, but Fernandes is prioritising team honours at the expense of individual awards.

"If we win trophies, it is the most important thing," he told MUTV.

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"Of course, it's good for a player to win individual awards and I will never say I don't want to be the best player in the league or I don't want to be the PFA player of the season.

"I want to be [that] but I want to be [that] if the team wins trophies. If the team does win trophies, for me, it's the same.

"For me, the most important thing is to help my team-mates to also be player of the season. That's the most important thing because, if someone from the club is player of the season, it means that we do very, very well this season.

"I think we will always be happy if someone else takes an individual award because it means the team is doing well. Nobody in football, a team sport, wins an individual trophy just doing well himself.

"You have to do well but you have to have the help of your team-mates to do well.

"When you have an individual trophy, of course, you are doing really well and deserve the credit but that credit goes to the team because they help you do better and better."

United are unbeaten in nine Premier League matches and will end 2020 three points behind leaders Liverpool, with a game in hand.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men, who are also still in three cup competitions, return to action on Friday with a home match against Aston Villa.