Exhausted Bruno Fernandes has been Manchester United's saviour

When Fernandes arrived there were plenty of doubts, and no small justification for them. Why had Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ed Woodward decided he wasn’t worth the punt in the summer, why hadn’t any other club come in before him, and why was he still playing in the Portuguese league at 25?

In retrospect, the arguments to explain this are more credible. United had wanted to sign Erling Haaland from RB Salzburg and were expecting to sign him in January. Their failure to land him shifted their focus back to the midfielder. Novara, Udinese and Sampdoria had all seen enough in him before his time at Sporting to give him a whirl in Italy, so there was clearly some impressive nascent talent there, somewhere. Woodward does not want to spend money unless it is absolutely essential, so was happy to force Solskjaer to manage on a shortage until it was absolutely desperate.

And at the turn of the transfer window, the situation was desperate. Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba were out injured. At the time, it looked as if they might not feature again for the club before the end of the regularly scheduled season. In Pogba’s case, some suspected he was ready to ride his injury until the summer where he could flourish at Euro 2020 before negotiating a move to Real Madrid or Juventus. United looked far from certain of qualifying for the Champions League places, which had miserable implications.

For transfers, Jadon Sancho was said to hold little interest in stepping away from the Champions League. Adidas reportedly have a clause that means they can pay less to the club for continued absence from the world’s most important football competition. Any targets on the shortlist would be able to demand higher wages, and they would become less affordable on a reduced transfer budget.

There were problems on the pitch, too. Solskjaer had overseen an improvement in most of the players. Fred and Scott McTominay were far from world-beaters, but they had achieved competence. Luke Shaw could run, and Anthony Martial with Mason Greenwood were hinting that there was a future for United’s attack. But at the time, it wasn’t enough. There was plenty of theoretical promise but there was nowhere near enough drive. There was no expectation placed upon them by a winner on the pitch. With Fernandes, that changed.

After less than half a season, Fernandes has a goal every other game. Before the emergence of twin freaks Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi emerged, that was striker-level good. Yes, he’s helped by taking penalties, but he’s earned that for two reasons. One, it’s his passes from deep and around the box that are finally stretching opposition defences into making mistakes in the area. Secondly, it’s that unlike Wayne Rooney and then Paul Pogba, Fernandes actually looks like he’s going to score spot-kicks for United.

It is his penalty taking that sums up Fernandes in a microcosm. He is a player who doesn’t just look like he could score. He is a player who looks like he thinks he’ll score, and to other players he looks like one, too. There have been moments since his arrival that something similar has happened to United. In the past they have looked like a side that have no idea how to win a game. Now, with Solskjaer and Fernandes, they occasionally look like a team who think they will win, know how to do it, and expect their opponents to act accordingly.

Of course, things are far from perfect. Fernandes looks knackered, as do his teammates. Had they not qualified for the top four today, they would probably have rolled over the Europa League, shorn of glycogen and lung capacity, and their transfer plans may well have been ruined.

Things are different now. There is a chance to relax, there is a chance to play the Europa League for the sheer joy of competition and silverware, and of knowing that with Fernandes, the best is yet to come for United. For their fans it has been too long without such hope, and almost all of it can be put down to the arrival of Bruno Fernandes.