Bruno Fernandes has been named Premier League Player of the Season for 2025/26 after a standout Manchester United campaign with 8 goals and 20 assists.
Bruno Fernandes named Premier League Player of the Season for 2025/26
Bruno Fernandes has been named the Premier League Player of the Season for 2025/26, with the Manchester United captain receiving one of the most prestigious individual awards in English football after a campaign of major influence at Old Trafford.
The Premier League announced the decision on Saturday, one day before the final round of the season. The title race has already ended with Arsenal crowned champions, while Manchester United will finish the campaign in third place, behind the Gunners and Manchester City. Even without lifting the league trophy, Bruno Fernandes stood out as one of the defining players of the season.
The Portugal international has scored 8 goals and provided 20 assists in the Premier League this season, equalling the all-time record for assists in a single campaign. That record is also held by Thierry Henry, who reached the mark with Arsenal in 2002/03, and Kevin De Bruyne, who matched it for Manchester City in 2019/20.
Fernandes still has the chance to make the record his own. Manchester United face Brighton in the 38th and final round on Sunday, and another assist would move the Portuguese midfielder clear at the top of the Premier League’s single-season assist rankings. It would be another historic moment in a season that has already confirmed his status as one of the competition’s most productive and influential players.
At 31, Bruno Fernandes has delivered one of the most complete campaigns of his career. His numbers tell part of the story, but his importance to Manchester United has gone far beyond statistics. As captain, he has been the central figure in the team’s attacking organisation, the player most often responsible for connecting midfield and attack, dictating tempo, creating chances and setting the competitive tone for the side.
His season became even more important after Michael Carrick replaced Rúben Amorim as Manchester United manager. The managerial change brought a different dynamic to the team, and Fernandes remained one of the players around whom the side was built. His ability to adapt, maintain performance levels and influence matches in different tactical contexts was one of the reasons United managed to secure a strong league finish.
Manchester United did not have enough to challenge Arsenal all the way to the title, but their third-place finish represents an important step in the club’s attempt to return to stability at the top end of English football. Fernandes was at the heart of that improvement, combining leadership with decisive attacking output across the season.
The award is the first Premier League Player of the Season honour of Bruno Fernandes’ career. It also makes him the third Portuguese player to win the prize, following Cristiano Ronaldo and Rúben Dias. Ronaldo won the award twice while playing for Manchester United, in 2006/07 and 2007/08, while Rúben Dias received it in 2020/21 after an outstanding campaign with Manchester City.
For Manchester United, Fernandes is also the first player from the club to receive the award since Nemanja Vidic in 2010/11. That adds another layer of significance to the achievement, especially for a club that has gone through several periods of transition since its last dominant era in English football.
Fernandes had already received major recognition before the Premier League award was confirmed. The Portuguese midfielder had also been chosen as the best footballer in England for 2025/26 by the Football Writers’ Association, finishing ahead of Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice and Manchester City striker Erling Haaland.
Rice and Haaland were again among the players beaten by Fernandes in the race for the Premier League’s official award. The shortlist also included Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya, Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhães, Manchester City forward Antoine Semenyo, Brentford striker Igor Thiago and Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White.
The competition for the award was strong, with Arsenal’s title-winning campaign naturally placing several of their players in the discussion. Rice had a major role in midfield, Raya and Gabriel were key figures in one of the strongest defensive units in the league, and Haaland once again remained among the most feared forwards in English football. Even so, Fernandes’ creative output and direct influence on Manchester United’s season proved decisive.
His 20 assists put him alongside two of the Premier League’s great creative seasons. Thierry Henry’s 2002/03 campaign remains one of the most famous individual seasons in the competition’s history, while Kevin De Bruyne’s 2019/20 year with Manchester City is widely remembered as one of the best examples of modern playmaking in England. Fernandes now stands level with both, and could yet surpass them before the season is complete.
Kevin De Bruyne had been the most recent player to win the Premier League Player of the Season award without also winning the league title. That happened in 2019/20, when Liverpool were crowned champions but De Bruyne’s individual brilliance for Manchester City was recognised by the competition. Fernandes now follows a similar path, winning the individual honour despite Arsenal finishing top of the table.
The Portuguese midfielder succeeds Mohamed Salah, who won the award last season after another standout campaign for Liverpool. Fernandes now joins a list of winners that includes some of the most important names in Premier League history, strengthening his legacy in England and underlining the impact he has had since arriving at Manchester United.
There has often been debate around Fernandes’ style of play, with his risk-taking, emotional intensity and constant search for decisive passes making him one of the most discussed players in the league. This season, however, the final numbers and the level of consistency made his case difficult to ignore. He was not only Manchester United’s creative leader, but also one of the most productive players in the entire competition.
For Portugal, the award is another important moment in a long history of Portuguese influence in English football. After Cristiano Ronaldo defined an era at Manchester United and Rúben Dias became a defensive leader at Manchester City, Fernandes now adds his name to the same elite group of Portuguese Premier League award winners.
The final match against Brighton will give him one last opportunity to add to an already remarkable campaign. If he records another assist, he will move ahead of Henry and De Bruyne and become the outright record holder for assists in a single Premier League season. Even if he finishes level with them, the achievement already places him in historic company.
Manchester City defender Nico O’Reilly was also recognised by the Premier League, being named Young Player of the Season for 2025/26. The 21-year-old received the award reserved for players aged 21 or under at the start of the campaign, closing a season in which several young players also made their mark in the competition.
For Bruno Fernandes, though, the spotlight belongs to him. After 7 seasons at Manchester United, the Portuguese captain has finally been recognised as the Premier League’s best player of the season. It is an award built on assists, goals, leadership and influence, and one that confirms just how central he remains to Manchester United and to the wider story of English football.
