Roy Keane identifies Bruno Fernandes ‘trait’ that is ‘killing’ Manchester United

Manchester United legend Roy Keane feels Bruno Fernandes’ lack of discipline and positional awareness off the ball is a trait that is ‘costing’ the Red Devils.

While Keane believes he has the ability to produce magic on the ball, he feels his off the ball work is a problem when United are struggling for results.

And when it was put to him whether it would be different under a different coach to Erik Ten Hag, or in a more structured setup at Man City, Keane disagreed and argued he has been the same under every manager and every team he has played for during his career.

“If you watch him [Bruno Fernandes] at international level, he does the same [with floating around]. It can’t all be the coaches and managers,” Keane told the Stick to Football podcast.

“There is a player out there and if he’s doing all that stuff and producing magic, you almost forgive him but if you’re in a struggling team and you’re doing all that stuff, that’s where it stands out and you go ‘you’re killing us, you’re costing us’.

“I reckon if you look back at his career, he’s done it in every team. It’s a trait – it’s not as if he’s an inexperienced player – leopards and spots.

“He’ll get away with it if [Manchester] United were winning more matches and he was producing his bits of magic, which he has done before.”

Jamie Carragher makes Paul Pogba comparison

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher agreed with Keane and suggested Fernandes is a ‘great talent’ rather than a ‘great player’, comparing the Portugal international to former team-mate Paul Pogba.

“I always used to describe [Paul] Pogba a bit like this – I think there’s a difference between a great talent and a great player. Pogba was a great talent, but I didn’t think he was a great player and the same with Bruno Fernandes.

“No doubt the talent is there but there’s just something [missing] and the great players, it’s in their head of where they need to be whether it’s defensively or to receive the ball – like [Kevin] De Bruyne.

Watch Carragher and Keane discuss Bruno Fernandes from 1:14:50 onwards

“De Bruyne is better than Fernandes but in terms of creating chances and different things, Fernandes is not a million miles away from him.

“We’ve seen him under Ole Gunnar Solskjær, I’ve watched him where – and it’s not being lazy by the way – he’s just running everywhere and this is without the ball by the way.

“He’s [Bruno Fernandes] very emotional. Sometimes when the game’s not going well, I’ve seen him running 30 yards to close the goalkeeper down and people sometimes get kidded by it and think ‘he’s working hard’.”

Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher were speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.