Bruno Fernandes has been a darling of the gossip columns for so long that you have almost certainly absorbed some of his best moments by now, even if only by oblique internet osmosis.



You will have seen the laser-guided through balls, the ballerina footwork, the finishes pinged into the net from every angle imaginable. A midfielder does not score 33 goals in a season without kick-starting a whole cottage industry dedicated to compiling his highlights and setting them to abysmal music.



Yet while those videos capture plenty of what makes Fernandes such an alluring player, they do not tell the whole story of the man for whom Manchester United are paying an initial fee of €55 million to sign from Sporting Lisbon. There are hidden depths, attributes that elude a first glance. To speak with those who know him best is to hear rave review after rave review; it is instructive that many of them focus not on his technique but on his mentality.



Fernandes is driven,...