Darwin Nunez can be Man Utd’s next Bruno Fernandes
Robin Bairner
- 10 Feb 2022 09:12 CST
- 3 min read
Manchester United have a strong history of success with bringing players from Portugal, with current stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes ample evidence of this.
Now Benfica striker Darwin Nunez has fallen under the club’s gaze and is a candidate to arrive as a centre-forward option in the summer.
The 22-year-old Uruguay striker’s signature is far from a given. Bayern Munich and Milan are among a glut of other clubs chasing Nunez, who was previously a target for Barcelona.
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His pedigree is certainly impressive. After making a slow start to the season following knee surgery, he has run into form since November. In league play, he has 12 goals in his last nine games for the Portuguese league leaders, including two hat-tricks. From six Champions League appearances, only two of which were starts, he has three goals, with these coming against Barca (two) and Bayern.
Any doubts over his ability to recover from his summer surgery have been emphatically brushed aside.
But just how good can he become?
Nunez can become a star
According to SciSports, the leading sports analytics company, he has the ability to match the performance levels of Bruno Fernandes before he left Sporting CP to join Man Utd in January 2020.
Using an array of datapoints picked up from in-game performance, SciSports can calculate the skill level of any player and assign them a number. This way, Bruno’s impact as a No.10 can be measured against that of centre forward Nunez.
Certainly, in the early stages of his career, Bruno was the superior player, but Nunez’s potential shows that he can reach the same heights as the Portuguese, whose ability really only accelerated once he joined Man Utd.
The Old Trafford club will hope that history can repeat itself if they do indeed choose to move for Benfica ace Nunez in the summer.
