Bruno Fernandes biography

When Manchester United signed

from Sporting CP for €55 million, few could have thought that he was going to be the one to lead the Red Devils towards numerous victories and spark the flame of desire for silverware and becoming a formidable side to challenge for the Premier League. Even though many knew of the midfielder’s talents, it was still quite a surprise to see how much of an effect a single player could have on a team.

Surely many would be interested to know more about

Bruno Fernandes bio

, as he has become one of the hottest players on the market and social by becoming an integral part of Manchester United’s squad. A hawkeyed attacking midfielder and a lethal penalty taker, Fernandes is the complete midfielder who can both create the opportunity for others to score, and find the best position to put the ball into the back of the net himself. The following are some of the basic facts about Bruno Fernandes biography that could give you an idea about who he is.

Bruno Fernandes date of birth

is 8 September 1994, which means that he will be turning 27 years old in 2021. The midfielder shares his birthday with other footballers such as Julian Weigl, who plays for Benfica, Joao Moutinho, who plays for

and former AC Milan and current Villarreal forward Carlos Bacca, who were all also born on 8 September.

One of the subjects that people talked about just before Fernandes’ move to Manchester United, was about

Bruno Fernandes nationality

and the fact that he was compatriots with

, and he idolized the winger his whole life. Fernandes is a born and raised Portuguese footballer who coincidentally played for the same team in Portugal that Ronaldo first gained prominence as a youngster.

While many would also like to know about

Bruno Fernandes religion

, the Portuguese talent has kept his lips tight on his personal beliefs and whether he is a religious person or not. But considering the fact that he was born in Portugal in Europe, which is predominantly a Christian country, with most of the Christians being Roman Catholics, it could be deduced that Fernandes is also a Christian. But no definite answer could be given as religion is quite a sensitive matter and no assumptions could be made about one’s religion and beliefs.

While the information presented above might be known by many, especially Manchester United supporters and the footballer’s own fans, there are bits of info about Bruno Fernandes biography that would certainly pique your interest. So read on to find out more about the Portuguese midfielder.

Everything you need to know about Bruno Fernandes bio

Below we have divided information about Bruno Fernandes biography into several sections your convenience, starting with simpler info and finally listing the Portuguese star’s honors and achievements in the end.

Bruno Fernandes information

Before delving into the life of the former Sporting CP player and taking a detailed look at

Bruno Fernandes childhood

, personal life and professional career, we have listed below a series of basic info to give you an overview of the attacking midfielder.

Bio

• Full name: 

  Bruno Miguel Borges Fernandes

• Nickname:

   The Milkman

Physical Stats

• Height: 

  1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)

• Weight:

   69 kg

• Hair color: 

  Black

Football Information

• Position:

   Attacking midfielder

• Jersey number: 

  18

• Professional debut:

   13 October, 2012

Personal Information

• Date of birth:

   8 September 1994

• Place of birth:

   Maia, Portugal

• Marital status: 

  Married

• Zodiac sign: 

  Virgo

With the more basic information about Bruno Fernandes out of the way, let us have an in-depth look at the specific details about the Portugal international’s life and see how he managed to gain such a prominence and become one of the most valuable players in the world.

Bruno Fernandes early life

Bruno Miguel Borges Fernandes was born on 8 September 1994 to his mother Virginia Borges and his father Jose Fernandes in Maia, Portugal. The young Bruno fell in love with football from quite a young age and became a Manchester United fan as he adored and idolized his role model Cristiano Ronaldo, whose time at United might have had an effect on his younger compatriot following in his footsteps and choosing the English club as his destination.

Being a Man United fan, Fernandes always dreamt of having an authentic United shirt, but could not get his hands on one as it was rare to find such an item, with the already existing ones being too expensive to buy.

Fernandes mentions in his biography that "One Christmas, my brother and I went to Switzerland to stay with my dad," he explained. "He was living there for work at the time. This was before the Internet made it so easy to buy kits from all over the world… In Portugal, you couldn’t always find Premier League kits, and if you could, they were really expensive. “

“So one day, we went into a Nike shop and our dad let us pick out two jackets. "This was a big decision; you know? My brother chose a yellow

one because of

. And for me … well, I am proud to say that even back then I was a man of sophistication… I chose Man United, of course."

The young talent started his journey in football by joining Portuguese club Infesta back in 2002 and outshined his teammates from the very beginning, which resulted in him joining the more famous youth team of Boavista. His father struggled to provide for his family as he was unemployed, which is why he moved to Switzerland to find a job and later take his family with him. All were on board with Jose Fernandes’ plan except for Bruno, who insisted on staying in Portugal as he believed that Switzerland could not match Portugal in the level of quality in football.

Bruno Fernandes life story

could have taken a significant turn had his family decided on leaving Portugal and immigrated to Switzerland. Although quality lies within the player himself, it he might never have received the attention he has now had he started his career in another country. After the family decided to stay in Portugal thanks to Bruno’s insistence, the young footballer continued his hard work at

, where he was first spotted by a scout of the Italian league, who pitched the idea of signing him to the Italian side Novara.

With a professional offer on the way for Bruno Fernandes, the youngster reportedly dropped out of school to pursue his passion full-time and on a professional level, further developing his skills from a young age. He joined

from Boavista’s U19 team for €40K back in 2012.

Bruno Fernandes profile

After impressing everyone during his time at Boavista’s youth team, Fernandes signed for Novara Calcio in Italy on 27 August 2012, moving to the club’s youth squad first. Of course it did not take him very long to show his outstanding performance to everyone at the club, which resulted in him being called up to the senior side after only a few weeks of training with the youth squad.

Being called up to the first team in

, Fernandes went on to be selected by the manager on somewhat of a regular basis, helping his side to fifth place in the league, which earned them a spot in the promotion play-offs. In a rare co-ownership deal, Udinese Calcio signed Bruno Fernandes in 2013 and the Portuguese talent moved up the ranks to appear in Italy’s top flight. He made his debut in

on 3 November as he was subbed on in the match against Inter Milan which ended in a 3-0 loss.

He went on to score his first Serie A goal a month later on 7 December against

, which showed the potential that the footballer had and over the course of a couple of years caught the eyes of several other clubs, including Sampdoria, who signed Fernandes on loan on 16 August 2016 with an obligation to buy. After helping Sampdoria stay in Serie A, the exciting prospect caught the eyes of Sporting CP, who announced his signing on 27 June 2017, as he had followed his idol Cristiano Ronaldo’s footsteps in joining the Portuguese club.

Sporting CP had signed Fernandes for a speculated fee of €8.5 million on a five-year contract, with his release clause believed to be set on €100 million. Upon his return to Portugal, the attacking midfielder started to gain prominence on an international level, becoming an integral part of the squad. His first season at

was phenomenal as he managed to score a total of 16 goals across all competitions, which is an absolutely outstanding number for an attacking midfielder.

While he outshined the expectations that people had of him, Fernandes also has some terrible memories from his days at Sporting CP, especially the day when he and several of his teammates and coaches were injured under the attack by three dozen Sporting CP “supporter”, who were angry about the results that their team had achieved, with the club finishing third in the league and not making it to the

qualification.

While bad events such as the one above did happen to Bruno Fernandes in Portugal, the midfielder only got better in time, as he became the third player in the club’s history to score in six consecutive games in the 21st century. Overall, he went on to make 137 appearances for Sporting CP, accumulating more than 11,000 minutes under his belt, as he managed to score an unbelievable 63 goals and provide 52 assists in the process.

His successful stint in Portugal persuaded

to pay well over €50 million to acquire his services from Sporting CP, signing him on a five-year deal until 2025 in the 2020 January transfer window. With the initially transfer fee believed to be €55 million, the total amount of money that the Red Devils agreed to pay could also rise up to €80 million through bonuses.

While Fernandes was absolutely phenomenal at Sporting CP, it was after his move to Manchester United that he became a truly world-class footballer, inspiring his team to challenge for the Premier League in the 2020/21 season. With the Portuguese attacking midfielder gaining more popularity and becoming the club’s main penalty taker thanks to his lethality from the 12-yeard spot, he went on to captain his team in the Champions League match against

less than a year after joining Manchester United, as they beat the Parisians 1-2 at Parc de Princes.

His transfer market value also saw a rise and almost doubled thanks to his incredible performances at his new club, with it currently being around €90 million. Until 3 February 2021, Fernandes made 54 appearances donning the club’s jersey, scoring 29 goals and providing a further 20 assists in the process, which obviously made him United’s most prolific and fruitful player of the season.

Style of play

Bruno Fernandes is a versatile footballer who is able to play in a multitude of positions on the pitch. But he is most comfortable as an attacking midfielder, as he is able to feed strikers with laser-guided through balls and show his energetic style of play in the center of it all. Despite being prone to losing the ball due to the sensitivity of his position deep in the heart of the opposition’s defensive backline, Fernandes is able to get the ball back quite quickly with his intense presses in the final third.

His passes are not the only thing that are laser-guided, as Bruno Fernandes is also a lethal long-range shooter of the ball, as he has been seen to put the ball into the back of the net and score top-bin goals from outside the box. Such fine artists of long-range shots are usually adept free-kick takers as well, and Fernandes is no exception, as he too takes deadly-accurate free-kicks, whether long or short range, with his successful penalty-taking ability catching the attention of everyone in the world of football.

As a classic attacking midfielder with a huge potential in scoring absolute bangers, the

international also has the technical and tactical awareness to have an impressive off-the-ball movement, with his free-roaming role leading to opposition defenders to mark him tighter, allowing his teammates to drop into the open spaces left by the ones following Fernandes.

Reception

Having played a major role in Manchester United’s turn-around season, club’s supporters as well as pundits and of course his teammates and manager have been full of praise for Bruno Fernandes, with the fans calling him “Portuguese magnifico” before the stadiums were closed to public viewers and many used to enjoy football from up close. His manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is particularly happy with his signing, as he has described the former Sporting CP man to be “a mix of Paul Scholes and Juan Sebastian Veron”.

Goal celebration

With Bruno Fernandes becoming a formidably lethal goal scorer in the past couple of seasons, it was only natural for him to develop his own unique style of celebrating the goals that he scores. Many have surely seen the Portuguese talent celebrate his goals at either Sporting CP or Manchester United. The footballer usually runs towards the crowd to finally slide on his knees while covering his ears with his palms.

This rather interesting way of celebrating goals has become his trademark celebration, which might never have been invented if it were not for his daughter, who uses the same move to cover her ears when her parents attempt to talk to her about certain matters.

Bruno Fernandes outside football

Bruno Fernandes is without a doubt one of the best attacking midfielders of his generation, which has earned him a contract with Nike, as the sportswear giants provide the best of their boots for Fernandes. He is also a stamina machine on EA Sports’ latest edition of FIFA, with a high work rate on both offensive and defensive situations.

He also has a 4-star skill moves set and a 4-star weak foot ability, which turns him into a deadly and effective attacking midfielder for those looking to take long-range shots using his 89-rated long shots status and 87-rated free-kick accuracy. His overall FIFA 21 rating is 88 with a massive 91 potential.

Bruno Fernandes personal life

In this section of

Bruno Fernandes biography

, we will be taking a look at the Portugal international’s personal life, from his family, wife and children to his philanthropic acts and humanitarian efforts. Read on for more information.

Family, children and relationships

Bruno Fernandes is married to Ana Pinho, whom he married in 2015. The two have been together for more than nine years as they met each other at the sweet age of sixteen. The high school sweethearts welcomed their first-born baby in 2017, a beautiful daughter whom they named Matilde. Ana Pinho also gave birth to their second child in 2020, a baby boy named Goncalo, completing their family of four.

Philanthropy

As professional football players, especially the ones playing on Europe’s elite stage, earn whopping amounts of money thanks to sponsorship deals, bonuses and unbelievable salaries, most of them feel obligated to give back to their communities by taking part in humanitarian efforts to make life easier for people other than themselves. While Bruno Fernandes does not have his own personal charity foundation as the likes of

’s

do, he has been quite charitable over the years, especially during the pandemic.

The Portuguese footballer has not forgotten his roots as he became the hero of his hometown by donating vital supplies to help his people battle the Coronavirus. He also invited primary school children to be Manchester United’s virtual mascots.

Legal issues

While the former Sporting CP and 

 man does not have any legal issues or disputes, he was the subject of a legal matter between his two former clubs, as the Italian side claimed that they were owed €6 million from the amount that Manchester United paid to acquire his services from Sporting CP. It seems that the two clubs are still in legal battle as there are no further details published about the dispute.

Bruno Fernandes career statistics

Following the details presented above about the Manchester United man, we have provided below a detailed set of information about his career stats at both club and international levels.

Club

Since making his professional debut at Novara in 2012, Bruno Fernandes has played for five different clubs throughout his career, including Novara,

, Sampdoria, Sporting CP and Manchester United. Overall, he has made 355 appearances as of 2 February 2021. In those appearances, the Portuguese midfielder has managed to score 117 goal and provide 90 assists.

International

The versatile midfielder made his international debut on 10 November 2017, at the age of 23 years 2 months and 2 days old. He has made a total of 23 appearances ever since as of the day of writing, scoring a goal and providing three assists in the process.

Bruno Fernandes honors

The midfielder has won quite a number of Player of the Month and Player of the Year awards in every league that he has played, already winning five

Player of the Month awards since joining Manchester United. While he is yet to win any collective trophies and awards with the Red Devils, he won 2 Primeira Liga titles and a Taca de Portugal with Sporting CP, while also winning the UEFA Nations League with Portugal back in 2019.

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