Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes's unconventional career beginnings

Bruno Fernandes is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League, but like everyone else, he started at the bottom of the ladder - but not where you'd expect. Read on to discover the Portuguese star's surprising early career.

Fernandes was born in Maia, Porto, on 8 September 1994.

In his early playing years, Fernandes played for Infesta and Boavista, before being loaned to Pasteleira. Surprisingly, he started out playing as a defender, but moved into an attacking midfield position later on.

More surprisingly, he moved to Italy in 2012 to join Serie B side Novara. An unconventional start to his career for a Portuguese talent.

Fernandes, who started with the youth teams of Novara, impressed and was even nicknamed 'Mini Rui Costa'. Soon after, he would join the first team of Novara, who played in Serie B at the time.

He made his debut in the 2012/13 season and helped Novara secure a place in the promotion play-offs.

In 2013, he moved to Serie A side Udinese, where he would play three seasons, until he signed for Sampdoria in 2016 on a one-year loan deal.

After the loan, he was bought by Sampdoria, who immediately sold him to Portuguese giants Sporting CP.

Portugal would soon experience Fernandes's pure class, who lifted two Portuguese League Cups and one Cup.

In 137 appearances for Sporting, he scored 63 goals and provided 50 assists (Transfermarkt), stats that earned him the Footballer of the Year Award in 2018 and 2019 and sparked interest from big European clubs.

In the end it was Manchester United who won the race to sign the midfielder and paid Sporting €65 million in January 2020.

At Old Trafford, he would soon become a crowd favourite, always giving his all to win and secure all three points for the Red Devils.

So far, Fernandes has won one League Cup with United.

At international level, he is one of the key men in the Portuguese national team, which he has represented on numerous occasions.

In 2019, he contributed to Portugal's Nations League triumph when they beat the Netherlands 1-0 in the final.

Fernandes will be looking to add to his United trophy cabinet as the Red Devils attempt to return to the top of the Premier League and Europe. Will he succeed?