‘I feel sorry for him’ – Rio Ferdinand says Man Utd star is ‘massively disrespected’

Rio Ferdinand says Manchester United are a Championship-level team when Bruno Fernandes is not on the field and the midfielder is ‘massively disrespected’ by fans of the Premier League. United find themselves languishing down in 15th in the Premier League after a wretched start to the campaign, with Ruben Amorim failing to steady the ship since replacing Erik ten Hag in the hot seat at the Theatre of Dreams.

But Fernandes has once again been a shining light for the Red Devils across an otherwise turbulent few months, racking up six goals and six assists in the English top flight. The 30-year-old, who took over as United’s captain in 2023, has also shone in United’s cup competitions, netting four times, to help ensure the club remain in the hunt for silverware in the Europa League and the FA Cup.

However, Fernandes still finds himself the target of heavy criticism when results go against the Old Trafford giants, with questions raised over the Portuguese’s negative body language in matches, as well as his apparent lack of positional discipline.

But Ferdinand has called out those who continue to chastise Fernandes on his Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel, pointing to the playmaker’s extraordinary level of consistency since arriving from Sporting five years ago. ‘Bruno is massively disrespected. All this talk of him not being captain material and trying to look for negatives in his game,’ the legendary ex-Manchester United and England defender said.

‘Since he’s come, 28 goals, 18 assists in his first season, that’s 46 goal involvements. Ten goals and 13 assists in his second season. Third season, 14 goals, 13 assists. He’s got ten now and 12 assists. ‘That says to me and it’s screaming one thing: consistency, output. This is what this guy brings and delivers.

‘Some of the things he gets called out for, his body language etcetera… yeah, there could be improvements there, but that is borne out of frustration, that’s borne out of not being helped. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video.

Up Next. ‘That’s borne out of, “You know what? I’m f***ing doing my job here, look at the stats!”. ‘No player has created more chances since he signed for Manchester United in the Premier League, by the way. Not Kevin De Bruyne, nobody. He’s created more chances than anybody since he signed.

‘If you’re putting a human touch on that, you would be frustrated, you would be p***ed off that the club are signing players that haven’t been able to deliver.’. Ferdinand ‘feels sorry’ for Fernandes given the level of criticism he receives compared to other less high-profile members of United’s dressing room.

‘One of the things that he gets criticised for, and I understand why he does, but you’ve got to look at the reasons why he’s doing what he’s doing,’ he added. ‘Sometimes you see him going to the full-back trying to get the ball, sometimes you see him going to the centre-half trying to get the ball, then you see him going up front and getting on the box and trying to do crazy things.

‘That’s frustration because he [another player] hasn’t been able to do what he should be doing: I know what he’s being asked to do and he’s not doing it so you get out the way, holding midfielders, and I’ll show you what to do. That’s what he’s doing.

‘If other people are doing their jobs, I don’t then need to go there and try and show you how to do your job. ‘That’s what Bruno has ended up doing and that’s why people are always saying he’s out of position. I actually feel sorry for him in a sense.’.

David Moyes came back to haunt United at the weekend as his Everton side held Amorim’s men to a 2-2 draw at Goodison Park. It took a dramatic second-half turnaround from United to avoid defeat and Ferdinand could hardly believe how poor the visitors were before the break on Merseyside.

‘I think they’re a Championship team when he doesn’t play, division one team sometimes when you look at them,’ the six-time Premier League winner went on. ‘They’re lacking confidence, they’re getting overrun a lot of the time, they get bullied sometimes.

‘You look at them in the first 45 minutes, especially, against Everton and they were second to every ball almost and for the second goal they were outrun. ‘Even the first goal from the set-piece, they’ve had five or six opportunities to get the ball cleared and not getting to it.

‘You can say luck but it happens too often to be just luck. Who is going to dominate and just get the ball and clear it?. ‘You look at Everton and it’s a different project altogether. David Moyes has gone there and they’re flying now. The main thing it’s off the back of is graft.