Harry Maguire has heaped the praise onto his Manchester United teammate Bruno Fernandes, and labelled him as a ‘perfect example’ ahead of the new Premier League season.
Manchester United are heading into the new Premier League season with a point to prove, having missed out on silverware across all fronts, and also finishing 15th in the league last season.
Despite such a dismal campaign, one of the few silver linings for Ruben Amorim’s side was the resurgence of Harry Maguire, who often popped up with some crucial moments towards the back end of the season.
Another bright spark in what was overall a disappointing season was their consistent captain, Bruno Fernandes, who managed to, yet again, top the club’s charts for goal contributions.
In a newly released interview with Rio Ferdinand on YouTube, Maguire goes into detail on his United captain and explains why he’s the ‘perfect example’ for the club and what makes him such a fantastic footballer.
‘Perfect example’ Fernandes
When talking about the pressure and scrutiny of playing for a club of United’s stature, Maguire said, “I think Bruno’s the perfect example; he doesn’t care what anyone thinks, and he believes in his ability, and that’s what he shows on the pitch.”
The English central defender then spoke about his time as United captain and how pivotal Fernandes was in supporting him.
“When I was captain, Bruno gave me his full support. I leaned on Bruno a lot, to be honest, and whenever I had decisions to make, I had people around me like [David] De Gea, Bruno, Nemanja [Matic].
“So I had good experienced pros there and I always leaned on them, and I built a good relationship with Bruno when I was captain, and when Erik [ten Hag] decided to change captaincy because I wasn’t playing in that first season, I really wanted it to go to Bruno if I’m being honest.”
What Maguire told Fernandes after captaincy swap
The Sheffield-born defender continued to heap praise onto the Portuguese maestro and explained what makes him such a valuable asset to the club, revealing what he told the midfielder after the captain’s armband was passed over.
“Bruno’s a great leader, so like I said to Bruno, I said, if I had to give it away to anyone, which I didn’t want to give it away, he’d be the man I want to take this club forward because he’s a fantastic player, great leader, and most importantly, he puts other people first.
“He cares about others, he cares about improving others, he cares about helping others. There’s a lot of players in this game who obviously play for themselves.
“I just admire Bruno every day, because of what he brings to the team. He’s a fantastic footballer, arguably, probably the most complete footballer I’ve played with. I can’t give him a high enough compliment for that.”
Maguire has copious amounts of admiration for his captain, and it will be interesting to see if he can continue his consistently impressive form for United in the upcoming Premier League season.
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