Manchester United may have spent more than £ 130 million this summer on Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, but Bruno Fernandes will not easily give up his status as the most important man.
Fernandes scored both goals in the 2-1 victory of United in West Ham in their Premier League Summer Series-Opener at the Metlife Stadium in New Jersey, and converted from the place after Alphonse Areola had dropped the ball and Ayden Heaven had contaminated, and a fantastic second goal after Kobbbie van De Kobbbie de Bobbie Bobbie Bobbie Bobbie Bobbie Bobbie Bobbie Bobbie Bobbie Bobbie Bobbie Bobbbie Bobbie Bobbbie Bobbie Bobbbie Bobbbie Bobbbie Bobbbie Bobbbie Bobbbie Bobbbie Bobbbie Bobbbie Bobbbie Bobbbie Bobbbie Bobbbie Bobbiebbiebbiebbie Bobbiebbiebbie Bobbiebbul Bobbie Bobbbiebul's. back.
The United Captain could have had a hat trick, but pushed his efforts directly to the Hammers keeper early in the second half.
Fernandes wore United through a desperate season that saw them ending 15th in the Premier League and the Europa League final lost to Tottenham, and could easily have left Old Trafford this summer after receiving a mega money offer from Saudi Pro League-Kant Al-Hilal but decided to stay. United fans will be relieved that he did that.
The Portugal star will probably play in a more deeper midfield roll this season after United Mbeumo and Cunha had signed to fill the two No 10 positions in Ruben Amorim's 3-4-2-1 system, but he started further in New Jersey because Mbeumo still needs some more preparation before making his debut.
The Portugal star took care of the pass that Rasmus Hojlund saw a pole rattling for the first minute and was never far from the action. But the highlight was his second goal in the 52nd minute, fluttering to shoot on one side of the goal and then to drive the ball in the other top corner.
The pressure is on Rasmus Hojlund to show that he can lead the line for United while the club is still connected to a number of strikers.
The Dane started a strong start when he stormed forward to hit the outside of the post in the first seconds, and also showed good feet before he put another attempt from the edge of the box in the first half.
There were echoes of his first performance on tour a year ago when he showed similar force to score against Arsenal in the Sofi Stadium in LA before he went off minutes later with a hamstring injury that kept him out of operation until the end of September.
At least Hojlund lasted until Amorim all his outfield players changed after the hour, but by that time he had become a bit quiet and hopes to show Bournemouth a bit more next week in the second game in Chicago.
Amorim started with Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte in midfield, and both players impressed during the 60-one minutes that they were on the field in the Metlife.
Ugarte had his fair share of critics during his first season in England after a relocation of £ 50 million from Paris Saint-Germain. One of the problems was that he is struggling to play two games a week, although this season will not be a problem for the Uruguayan.
He looked sharp against West Ham and the peak came just before half -time when he showed great feet to beat different opponents and set up Amad Diallo who was scary outside when he wiped the ball home.
Mainoo struggled under Amorim after he was one of the success stories of the Erik Ten Hag era, because he tried to find his best position in the new system in the midst of a continuous contract. But the young person was lively here and made the crucial intervention that led to the second goal.
The new season has not yet begun, but the increased access to broadcasters at Premier League matches is being tested here in the US during the summer series.
The new rules state that each team has to set up the manager twice for an interview during the rest or a replacement player who comes from the field to the reservation that the questions are positive and a camera in the dressing room before the game.
The NBC cameras had a short access to the United Dressing room in the Metlife Stadium, and Ruben Amorim became the first united boss to give a half-time interview, and told the broadcaster that he was happy with how his team had played in the first half and he would change the entire starting line for 70 minutes.
Has the American football market reached the saturation point after a summer in which America has organized an extensive club world cup? Manchester United is usually an easy sale in this country, but the 82,500 capacity Metlife Stadium was barely half full for the club-Sumer's Sumer's Support Competition against West Ham.
We expected that the number of fans would increase considerably after the earlier match here between Bournemouth and Everton, but it didn't seem to happen. It will be interesting to see how many tickets the Premier League can sell for the next two games in Chicago and Atlanta.
In the preseason, United talked about the importance of scoring more set pieces. Mason Mount referred to the issue when he spoke with reporters in Chicago, and the young defender Ayden Heaven said that United should show the same ruthlessness as his old club Arsenal who scored 22 goals from set pieces in the Premier League last season, with Centrum-Backs Gabriel and William Saliba.
“I looked at them very well, such as Saliba and Gabriel,” said the heaven. “I learned a lot from them. You can see that they are pretty good in the air, not, of corners. I have said in the past that I want to score more, and I work on that. That is what I want to add to my game, score from set pieces. '
However, when the chance was in the Metlife Stadium, United was short again. Fernandes waved over a corner from the left in the first half and it reached Leny Yoro unarkly for the goal, but the young Frenchman went wide. They are the kind of mistakes that United can pay this season and Amorim will hope that his team can show more a murderer instinct in these situations.