Rivals to do battle for Jude
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER has claimed Manchester United have found their new Paul Scholes in Bruno Fernandes.
And the United boss has lauded the midfielder, 25, as a conductor, leader and winner after his sparkling start to life at Old Trafford.
Just three weeks after his £47million move from Sporting Lisbon – a deal that could reach £68m with add-ons – Fernandes is rapidly emerging as United’s main man.
Solskjaer has been delighted with the Portugal midfielder’s will to win which is already proving infectious in United’s young dressing room.
All eyes will be on Fernandes at Old Trafford today against Watford as United attempt to step up their push for a Champions League spot next season.
Solskjaer said: “He reminds me of Scholesy on the field – but he’s a different type of personality off the pitch!
“Like Paul, he is another conductor, a leader and a winner. He wants to win and he doesn’t take 99 per cent as good enough – that’s impressed me.
“That’s something you see when you watch him but you don’t really know about until you have him in your group. He’s been top class.”
Despite coming into a new club, a different football culture and an unfamiliar dressing room, Fernandes has not been shy to let team-mates know if he is unhappy with them – and Solskjaer loves it.
“It’s because he wants to win,” said the United boss. “But he does it in the right way and encourages them.
“Even though he was on the bench against Bruges he was walking around speaking to the players who started.
“And the 10 minutes he played in Belgium at the end of the game when we needed some calmness and composure you could see immediately that there was a difference in our team.”
United have the chance today to make amends for their woeful 2-0 defeat at Watford in December which marked a low point in their season.
Solskjaer insists United have to put a winning run together quickly to close the gap on the Champions League spots – as well as attempting to go all the way in the Europa League.
“Watford have had a break. Maybe we can catch them off guard,” he said. “It’s a chance for us, a chance for the boys to make amends for Vicarage Road.
“We gave many of them a rest in Bruges so they should be fresh and ready for today’s game.
“The boys know that we cannot have too many slip-ups if we are going to challenge for the top four.
“That’s what we want to do because you can’t just rely on the Europa League as the way into the Champions League.
“The Premier League is a priority. We need to get this momentum going. Of course, we also hope we can go the distance in the Europa League.
“We got away with a score draw in Bruges. We’re not happy with the performance but it’s a decent result to take to Old Trafford on Thursday.”
them. There are a lot of players who have excellent careers and they might not be at the top of everybody’s hit-list for being the best player in the world.
“But there are players who are really top professionals out there who perform week in, week out and they’re the type
of players I have the utmost respect for. That’s the principle of our work, trying to maximise what they have.
“It’s not an easy thing to do, the best way to do it is build your own side of course, but you very seldom get a chance to do it these days.”
Having worked closely with found the Championship outfit unwilling to listen to offers under £25million.
That was enough to keep Birmingham’s youngest first-team debutant at St Andrews – for now.
Yet, as the interest in Bellingham who turns 17 in June, grows by the week – Real Madrid and Barcelona recently sent scouts to watch him – he is set to be off in the summer for £30m-plus.
United looked like his most likely move, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer having first identified the midfielder’s huge potential after he scored a 35-yard rocket in an Under-16s clash against the Reds.
But Liverpool’s sudden arrival on the scene for Bellingham, who has four goals in 33 senior appearances this term, now poses a serious threat to their bitter rivals’ ambitions.