Paul Pogba profile & stats at Manchester United: Richard Jolly says Bruno Fernandes can bring the best out of World Cup winner

The clue tends to be in the name. Most players are only the reigning Premier League Player of the Month for just that: 30 days, or perhaps 31. Not the February winner Bruno Fernandes, who is set to retain the title for at least four months.

There are more legitimate ways of assessing the Portuguese’s impact in his brief time in England, but it is considerable. For instance, he averages a goal a game - either scored or created, anyway - in his brief top-flight career, with two goals and three assists in five matches. There was a sense he was belatedly filling a void created by Paul Pogba’s absence. The Frenchman sustained productivity over a longer period last season, with 13 league goals and nine assists. No midfielder struck more often in the Premier League.

• Bruno's a big Pogba fan
• Man Utd's transfer checklist

If the Covid-19 pandemic has allowed Pogba to return to fitness after an ankle problem meant he had not played in 2020, the corresponding collapse in the transfer market could reshape Manchester United’s midfield again. Pogba is ever likelier to stay at Old Trafford. Far from being his successor, Fernandes could be his sidekick.

United seemed to have a midfield wasteland, with the perhaps unexpected exception of Scott McTominay, as Andreas Pereira, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, Pogba and Fred mustered a solitary league goal between them this season. Now they threaten to have the most potent in the division.