For the 12th time in the history of the prestigious award, a player from Manchester United has won the English Premier League Players’ Player of the Year honours.
Bruno Fernandes became the latest player from the Red Devils to lift the grand prize after dominating the league last season to the tune of registering a record 21 assists.
Many had argued that Declan Rice should have won the award after leading Arsenal to win the league title for the first time in 22 years.
However, “impact” looked to be the main determining factor as Rice’s’ fell short of Bruno Fernandes’ impact considering beyond Rice, four Arsenal players were named in the EPL Team of the Year.
On the flip side, Fernandes clearly was the only obvious candidate to be voted into the PFA Team of the Year as the Portuguese almost single handedly dragged Man United to clinch third place in the league standings and score a return to the UEFA Champions League.
It is imperative to note that the EPL Players’ Player of the Year Award was declared in the same week as Man United made its latest attempt to get that world class midfield unit that dominated the EPL in the golden years of the Sir Alex Ferguson era by signing Carlos Baleba.
The Cameroon international finally joined Man United after quite an extensive pursuit with attempts to sign him from Brighton and Hove Albion dating back to the 2024-2025 season. For Man United fans however, the wait to see Baleba in action at Old Trafford will take a while as he works his way back from an ankle ligament injury.
While Bruno Fernandes’ brilliant 2025-2026 season was rewarded with the Players’ Player of the Year Award, the man Baleba has been likened to-Yaya Toure-unfortunately missed out on winning the big award. Interestingly, Baleba has landed in the same city Toure starred in after leaving FC Barcelona.
Despite becoming only the second player in the EPL to score 20 goals from midfield while powering Manchester City to win the league title, Luis Suarez won the Players’ Player of the Year Award ahead of Toure. How Toure ended up at Man City from Barcelona is the same reason why there should be serious consternation over the role of Baleba at Manchester United.
In Barcelona’s glory years under Pep Guardiola, Toure grew frustrated over his limited playing time in an advanced role. It is true the rise of Sergio Busquets limited Toure’s playing time at the DM position but that was partly down to Toure’s lack of tactical discipline to play his role as the shield in front of the back line.
Slithering into Pep Guardiola’s shoes, moving on from the Ivorian made sense beyond securing a major financial windfall; after all, which coach would be okay watching his DM roaming in an advanced position while playing alongside two of the best midfielders ever in Xavi and Andreas Iniesta?
For Man United, the club finds itself in the same spot as Barcelona because though Baleba is a Hybrid Midfielder who has oscillated between operating as a DM-Defensive Midfielder- and operating as a CM-Central Midfielder-in his time at Brighton, his future’s success at Old Trafford heavily depends on him being used primarily as a CM and not as a DM. Baleba has the speed, stamina, power, technical quality and sheer talent to play as a DM, but the 22 year old lacks the crucial trait of tactical discipline to be used mainly as a DM.
“I think he’s a box-to-box player. The only small flaw I often see when playing in front of the defense is carrying the ball too much. He tends to carry the ball too much. When you play in front of the defense, you have to release it more quickly” Alex Song said about Baleba in an interview and the former Arsenal DM added that “When he’s a relay player, he has the ability to break through the lines; it’s easier [for him] because he has a volume of play and power that are beyond the norm.”
In games against lower quality opponents in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, Baleba could be deployed as a DM but in games against top level opponents in the UEFA Champions League and EPL, it is best to not use him as the DM.
Liverpool have conceded the most goals from fast breaks (9) in the EPL since the start of the 2025-2026 season and their main rivals Man United are not far behind after conceding seven goals during that same period. Funny enough, both teams need a specialist at the DM position and not guys who are at their best when playing as central midfielders than as defensive midfielders like Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch.
For a team like reigning UEFA Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain, its system is set up for hybrid Midfielders such as Vitinha, Joao Neves, Fabian Ruiz and Warren Zaire-Emery to thrive. For Manchester United, this isnt the case as the club needs more specialists to fit their system rather than having a plethora of hybrid midfielders including new signings Youri Tielemans, Kobbie Mainoo and Andrey Santos.
The EPL is arguably the best league in the world and Bruno Fernandes is the best player playing in it. As such, Man United will surely look to build around his strengths and weaknesses since he is the present while highly rated midfielder Kobbie Mainoo is the future.
With Bruno, Man United have an ultra-attacking outlet and don’t need him playing with a DM who isn’t committed to execute the role in shielding the back line ina disciplined fashion. However, having a specialist DM alongside Fernandes and a guy like Baleba playing the CM position gives Man United a balanced setup.
In Mainoo’s case, the English midfielder is a deep lying creator (regista) who needs at least one hard running technically sound CM or box-to-box midfielder beside him to produce his best. As such, playing Mainoo as a regista and moving Baleba to the CM position works and plays to the strengths of both players while reducing their weaknesses and that is what complementary football is all about.
For several years, Man United have failed to get the best production out of their big signings and one of the main reasons is down to having players whose playing styles don’t exactly mesh together to create the perfect fit.
For instance, Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni’s foot speed falls short of what is ideal for the EPL but his patient and disciplined play as a DM makes him a perfect candidate for Man United to pair with Bruno Fernandes and Carlos Baleba.
Baleba is young enough to adapt and grow his game to have that patience and discipline to play as a DM through and through but he would have to do so as soon as possible. Failing to do so, would lead to Man United conceding goals mainly due to Baleba’s failure to be in the right position to thwart such efforts.
This would be a lose-lose situation for both parties as Man United won’t get the best return on its investment in Baleba and Baleba won’t get the chance to be his best version. After signing hybrid midfielders Tielemans and Andrey Santos this offseason, bringing in another non-specialist player in Carlos Baleba is not what pushes Man United’s midfield into elite territory and that ultimately points to a troubling loss.
