The 70th Ballon d'Or is being awarded in London on Monday 26 October at 9 p.m., and Bruno Fernandes is right in the middle of the live discussion. Sky Sport Italia have him listed at number 27, with a season built around a new Premier League assist record and Manchester United's return to the Champions League.
Fernandes' numbers this season
Fernandes set the Premier League single-season assist record with 21. That is the cleanest individual marker in his case, and it sits alongside United finishing third on 71 points.
Sky Sport Italia's live update also said Fernandes was "once again he is the soul of Manchester United", before adding that the club came back to the top end of the league and into Europe again. However you read the ranking itself, 21 assists is the kind of output that gives a midfielder a real place in the conversation.
The live ranking around him
The update is not only about Fernandes. Marquinhos is listed at 25, with Sky Sport Italia framing his season around Paris Saint Germain's league title and Champions League win in Budapest against Arsenal. Dayot Upamecano is also in the live top 30, with a season that included the Bundesliga, German Cup and German Super Cup for Bayern Munich.
Fernandes still stands out because the scale of his attacking return is so unusual for a midfielder. The live ranking is being revealed position by position, but his name already has the strongest individual statistic tied to it. United's third-place finish and 71 points give that record a team context, which is exactly why he is not just a statistical outlier in the list.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →
