Thierry Henry, a former player for Arsenal, has provided an explanation for Bruno Fernandes' decline in goal scoring and assist production at Manchester United.

He mentioned that the Portugal midfielder has to give up some duties, like taking penalties and free kicks, because players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Christian Eriksen have arrived.

When Fernandes first arrived at Old Trafford in January 2020, he amassed stats similar to those of when he scored eight goals in his first 14 Premier League games and 18 goals in his first full season.

The Portugal international netted ten times in the English top flight last campaign, but has scored just twice in his first nine league appearances this time around.

Henry feels that the coming of Ronaldo and Christian Eriksen has also not helped Fernandes’ statistics.

“I always say in an orchestra you have one conductor. "He leads the tempo of the game,” Henry said on Amazon Prime.

When he first arrived, it was all about him, and the numbers he had in his first season were the numbers you have after three or four seasons at a club.

“It was always going to go a bit lower, but then Ronaldo arrives, the ball goes to Ronaldo, a penalty goes to Ronaldo, a free-kick goes to Ronaldo, so your confidence is a bit lower."

Eriksen arrives. You don’t play with two balls or three balls. You have the ball less so you cannot affect the tempo of the game.”