Bruno Fernandes is named Premier League Player of the Season following a strong campaign for Manchester United, which ends with the club finishing third and qualifying for next season’s UEFA Champions League. Multiple outlets report that Fernandes plays a key role in the team’s league success and is the first Manchester United player to win the award since Nemanja Vidic in 2010-11 (BBC and others cite Vidic’s 2011 win). Several sources also agree that Fernandes equates the Premier League record for most assists in a single season with 20, matching Arsenal great Thierry Henry and former Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne. Alongside his playmaking, outlets state he scores eight Premier League goals for United.

He is selected ahead of a list of other nominees including Arsenal’s David Raya, Gabriel Magalhaes and Declan Rice, Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, Brentford’s Igor Thiago, and Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White, among others. Reports also note Fernandes has already won the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) Footballer of the Year award this season.