List of contenders highlights change happening at Reds
IT won’t quite be the same as in previous years, but United have announced an end of season awards ceremony (of sorts) will take place this summer.
This year, fans and players will be denied the chance to get together due to the precautions being taken around Manchester to avoid a second coronavirus wave.
But perhaps the awards will still have a more upbeat and positive tone than before as they reflect on the 2019/20 season at Old Trafford.
Disregarding the past week, which has been damaging for United in a different way in the wake of the Harry Maguire Mykonos incident, the mood around the club has largely been one of optimism since the Premier League campaign finished.
Transfers are certainly needed to reinforce that perception and position, but a third-place finish in the league and the mentality now being championed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has given hope United will challenge for league titles again soon.
The fact so many players have made credible cases to win the club’s prestigious Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award says it all.
Wind the clock back 12 months and there were precious few candidates. Luke Shaw won after a supporters’ poll but many were still unimpressed with the left-back. Victor Lindelof was another would-be contender, but United’s dismal finish to the season meant nobody was particularly in the mood to hand out prizes and pop open the champagne.
But 2020 has given rise to a new hope at the club.
It came largely in the form of Bruno Fernandes, who despite only playing half a season will be a frontrunner for the Sir Matt Busby award. His £47m arrival from Sporting in January transformed United, as the Portuguese not only contributed goals and assists in spades but altered the mindset of many others at the club. He’s a winner and he turned United into winners too. It is incredible that he still hasn’t tasted defeat in a league game for the club.
Yet to solely credit him with the turnaround is unfair. Many were performing well enough before he arrived.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka took no time at all in hitting the ground running after signing from Crystal Palace and the defence often looked reliant on his ability to win 50-50 tackles at the back.
Fred was also pivotal in a midfield bereft of options for much of the campaign, stepping in before Fernandes’ signing and while Paul Pogba was injured to keep Solskjaer’s side ticking in the middle of the park.
Up front, Solskjaer’s gamble to put Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial to the forefront, after shipping both Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez off to Inter Milan, paid off. Both took added responsibility for goals, scoring 17 in the league apiece, while that decision also allowed Mason Greenwood to make his mark in the first team. All three look to be in positions to kick on further next term.
Shaw might even be a contender in another year. It’s strange that he’s probably had a more productive 19/20 season than the one he enjoyed in 18/19 (which won him the award). But that in itself sums up United’s progress over the past 12 months.