Bruno Fernandes insists he is not the reason for Manchester United’s improvement

Bruno Fernandes does not believe that he has single-handedly turned Manchester United’s fortunes around or changed the mindset at Old Trafford, despite their improvement since his arrival this time last year.

United travel to Anfield to play defending champions Liverpool on Sunday in a top-of-the-table clash, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side three points clear of their historic rivals at the summit.

It is all a far cry from United’s most recent visit to Anfield in January of last year. A 2-0 defeat left Solskjaer’s side 30 points off the pace and led to pundits questioning the United manager’s long-term future.

Fernandes signed in an initial £47m deal from Sporting Clube de Portugal two weeks later and has been credited as the catalyst behind the subsequent upturn in results at Old Trafford, with his demanding personality bringing the best out of his team-mates.

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United have taken more points than any other Premier League club since Fernandes joined - six more than Liverpool - but the player himself does not believe he can claim credit for the turnaround in the club’s fortunes.

“I think I’ve come to a club that is very demanding. It was not about me,” he said.  

“I have always been very demanding of myself but I came to a club that was very demanding. You play for one of the biggest clubs in the world, a club that has won everything, every trophy.

“I don’t think it was me changing the mindset of the club,” Fernandes added. 

“If I changed the mindset of some players or my mindset helped some players to be better - maybe. 

"But I don’t think it was me changing anything for the club because playing for Manchester United means playing with the pressure, playing with the responsibility.  

“You have to know you play for one of the biggest clubs in the world. So for me my mindset has always been like that. I want to be better. I want to play better. I want to grow up.  

“I think you can always learn every day, it doesn’t matter how good you are. You can always learn something.”

After failing to win their last three league games, pressure is on Liverpool to avoid defeat and prevent United from moving six points clear at the top of the table. Klopp’s side will hope to protect a 67-game unbeaten run at Anfield.

But Fernandes believes that United are also under pressure due to the size and stature of the club and  

“I have to feel the pressure every day I come to train at United,” he said. “You have to put pressure on yourself. I think Liverpool being champions, they know what they have to do, they know what it is to have pressure on them.  

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“But we have to focus on what we have to do because we have a lot of pressure [on us]. Everyone knows, playing for Manchester United means playing with the pressure on but this is what you want as a player.  

“If you don’t have pressure on you, it’s because you’re not doing the right things. For us, for growing up, we have to go into these games to try to win it.”

Fernandes added: “I think, as everyone knows, when you come to a club like Manchester United, you come to win trophies.  

“It doesn’t matter now that we’re out of the Carabao Cup and Champions League, and going into the Europa League, the main thing for me is that every trophy I have in front of me I want to win.  

“So at this moment we have three trophies we can win - the Europa League, FA Cup and Premier League - and we will go for all of them. But for us it’s about winning game by game because being first in January or beating Liverpool in January and going six points ahead doesn’t mean you will be champions.  

“You have to have the mentality to keep going and doing well and to keep doing well you need to win the next game and the next one and the next one.”