Paul Pogba has suggested that Bruno Fernandes would be considered a top-three Ballon d’Or contender if he were playing for Manchester City instead of Manchester United.
Fernandes has been central to Manchester United’s improvement under Michael Carrick this season, with the club effectively securing a return to the Champions League.
The Portuguese midfielder currently leads the Premier League in assists this campaign with 18, putting him just two shy of the all-time single-season record jointly held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.
Of those 18 assists, 10 have come in away matches. Only a few players have reached double figures for away assists in a single Premier League season before him: Muzzy Izzet in 2003-04 (10), Cesc Fabregas in 2014-15 (11), and Mohamed Salah in 2024-25 (11).
He has also scored eight league goals this season, and only Erling Haaland (30) has been directly involved in more Premier League goals during the 2025-26 campaign.
Having shared a dressing room with Fernandes for two and a half years at Old Trafford, Pogba believes the midfielder would receive far greater global recognition if he played for an elite side like City.
“Do you think Bruno, if he’s in the other team, he’s not in the top three, a Ballon d’Or player?” Pogba said on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.
“You put him in City, he’s [in the] Ballon d’Or [top] three, he’s in the Ballon d’Or.
“Bruno Fernandes, with the stats, the season, the way he plays and everything, but when you don’t win, you don’t think about you, it’s not. It’s like, this is life, this is football.
“I know he’s not physically the same as me but he cannot jump and recover the ball as I would do, but he can do everything.
“He can do everything. Like I said, Bruno Fernandes, in other big clubs, is in the top three Ballon d’Or, punto final.
“Football lovers will always respect Bruno Fernandes. That you like his style is a different thing.
“If you like his style, the way he plays or not, this is different opinions. But football players, they will understand that this guy is a top player.”
