ALL TO PLAY FER, UNITED

Stakes are high. Seven games to go and the Red Devils must qualify for Champions League... Not just for the club, but also to show brilliant Bruno that his future can be at Old Trafford

- BY TYRONE MARSHALL

MANCHESTER UNITED must finish in the top four this season and qualify for the Champions League if they want to hang on to Captain Fantastic, Bruno Fernandes.

The Portuguese playmaker has 16 Premier League assists to his name already, and needs just five in the final seven games to break the record held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.

Fernandes is in contention to win various player-of-the-year awards, and he also has the World Cup to look forward to with Portugal in the summer.

United's midfield general has been sensational this term - and is once again attracting plenty of interest from Saudi Arabia.

AL-Hilal made the Red Devils an offer of £100million last summer = and promised Fernandes a staggering salary of £700,000 per week to go with it.

But after a few weeks of deliberations, and consulting his family, Fernandes rejected the payday and stayed at United, much to the delight of the fans.

He also said in an interview in Portugal last December that United had “wanted me to leave” - an assessment not disputed by the Old Trafford hierarchy.