Paul Pogba has made a pointed assessment of why Bruno Fernandes remains overlooked in Ballon d’Or conversations, insisting the Manchester United captain’s club situation — rather than his quality — is what keeps him off the podium.
Speaking on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, Pogba was direct in his appraisal of his former teammate. “Can Bruno Fernandes do more than he does now at United?” Pogba asked Ferdinand. “Do you think if Bruno is in another team, he’s not in the top three [for the Ballon d’Or] player? For me, you put him at City, he’s in the [final] three for the Ballon d’Or. Bruno Fernandes, with the stats, the season, the way he plays and everything… but when you don’t win, we don’t even think about it. It’s like that. This is life. This is football.”
The comments arrive at a moment when Fernandes is producing arguably the most statistically impressive campaign of his United career. The Portugal international has registered 18 assists in the Premier League this season, placing him just two short of the all-time record of 20, jointly held by Kevin De Bruyne and Thierry Henry. With five fixtures remaining, Fernandes also has eight league goals to his name and is widely considered the frontrunner for the Premier League Player of the Year award.
His most recent contribution came last weekend, when his assist set up Matheus Cunha’s winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Chelsea — a result that edged United closer to securing a return to Champions League football.
Pogba, who rejoined United in 2016 for a then-record £89 million transfer fee, has a firsthand understanding of Fernandes’ influence. The Frenchman played 79 times alongside the Portuguese midfielder before departing for Monaco, and the pair combined for 11 goals during their two seasons together at Old Trafford.
The broader argument Pogba raises is well-established in football discourse: the Ballon d’Or, historically awarded by France Football, has tended to favour players competing for — and winning — the sport’s biggest honours. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo dominated the award across an era defined by Champions League and domestic title success, and more recent winners such as Karim Benzema and Rodri have similarly lifted major silverware in the seasons they claimed the prize. Fernandes, by contrast, has yet to win a major trophy with United since his arrival in January 2020.
United’s push for a top-four Premier League finish this season represents a meaningful step forward for the club under their current rebuild, but Champions League qualification alone is unlikely to shift Fernandes into genuine Ballon d’Or contention. Should he break the Premier League assist record — currently shared between De Bruyne, who set the mark in the 2019-20 season, and Henry, who achieved it in 2002-03 — it would nonetheless represent a landmark individual achievement in English football history.
Fernandes has made over 270 appearances for Manchester United since joining from Sporting CP, accumulating more than 100 goal contributions in the Premier League alone, making him one of the most productive midfielders in the division’s recent history. Pogba’s remarks, reported by transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano, reflect a widely held view that the structure of individual award voting continues to disadvantage players at clubs outside the Champions League elite.
