Bruno Fernandes picks up midfield clues from Michael Carrick

“It’s unbelievable how fresh and sharp he is doing the exercises with us, and I was talking with Fred and I was going to say to him, hey, watch him playing and do the same, but I thought it was unfair and so I didn’t say it! But it was amazing – if someone from outside come to watch training, nobody would say this guy isn’t playing in the team.

“He’s a player who has that quality of passes and also when we need to do some finishing or passing exercises, he’s always there helping us with the balls. I’m learning a lot from him and he’s one of the people I like to listen to, because he was a big player, he won a lot of trophies for the club and for me you have to learn from these players.”

Fernandes revealed he also watched Portugal team-mate Joao Moutinho, who is now with Wolves, in order to help hone his craft.
“I appreciate Scholes a lot but maybe because, at that time for me in Portugal, when Scholes was playing at his best level, it was difficult for us to see English football. Because, for me at that time it was easier to see Joao Moutinho than it was Paul Scholes or Andres Iniesta or Zinedine Zidane or Andrea Pirlo.

“Moutinho and Carrick, they are the sort of players from whom you can learn how to be smart in the game, how to be clever. Maybe they’re not the sort of players that kids will watch and say, I want to be like Michael Carrick, but when you have one in the team, you know that guy will never miss a pass, you know he will do the smart pass, most of the time will make the right decision, and you need these kinds of players.