When Manchester City splashed out £34m on a 28-year-old defensive midfielder who had played almost all of his career in the Ukrainian Premier League in 2013, few would have expected him to become a long-term rock at the base of the club’s midfield.
But eight years and 373 appearances later, Fernandinho has firmly established himself in the pantheon of City icons.
Now, with his intention to depart in the summer announced, Fernandinho will surely be hoping for a fairytale ending: retaining the Premier League title he won as club captain last season, winning the club’s first ever Champions League and adding an FA Cup to boot.
Below we take a look at Fernandinho’s record at City, and how he compares to some of the Premier League’s other great holding midfielders:
Fernandinho’s Man City record
- 373 appearances (all competitions)
- 25 goals
- 32 assists
- 4 Premier League titles
- 1 FA Cup
- 6 League Cups
- 1 Community Shield
Roy Keane
- Manchester United, 1993-2005
Though arguably more of a box-to-box presence than a holding midfielder, a consideration of standout centre midfielders would be incomplete without Roy Keane.
Simply put, Fernandinho’s trophy haul just doesn’t compare. The Brazilian has won four Premier League titles, one FA Cup and six League Cups; Keane won seven Premier Leagues, four FA Cups and one Champions League.
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Keane’s no holds barred style of play defined the top flight in the late nineties and early noughties, and helped foster Mannchester United to an entire era of unrivalled success under Sir Alex Ferguson.
In a way, Fernandinho’s less noticeable but equally important role as City’s anchor testifies to his quality. But when comparing these two, the Brazilian’s place in football’s collective memory will be slighter than Keane’s.
Patrick Vieira
- Arsenal, 1996-2005
Keane’s bitter rival Patrick Vieira enjoyed less success than the Irishman in terms of trophies, but he did pick up a winners’ medal at the 1998 World Cup and also captained Arsene Wenger’s remarkable Invincibles.
No team had, or has since, completed an unbeaten Premier League season before before Arsenal in 2003-04 – and neither Vieira’s leadership role within that nor the scale of the achievement should be understated.
Fernandinho has nevertheless won four league titles, compared to Vieira’s three. That said, none have been in such sensational style as 03-04.
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- Chelsea, 2003-2008
Claude Makelele is rare among all footballers – not just Premier League midfielders – for giving his name to the role Fernandinho has played at Manchester City.
So adept was Makelele at breaking up play and limiting counter-attacking options just in front of Chelsea’s back four that the “Makelele role” was christened.
Fernandinho has the edge on Makelele in terms of trophies, with his four Premier Leagues, six League Cups and one FA Cup beating or equalling the Frenchman on each occasion – but his time in the Premier League has also been twice as long.
Xabi Alonso
- Liverpool, 2004-2009
Xabi Alonso was a different kind of player. Yes, he played in the same position as the above; but his role hinged on an almost incomparable ability to survey the pitch ahead of him and find a pass, beat a man or close down space before anyone else had thought about doing so.
Alonso’s silkiness typified the emergence of Spain as the world’s best national team in the late noughties, with their Euro 2008 and 2010 World Cup victories rooted in a breathtaking possession game.
He won no Premier League titles and just one FA Cup as a Liverpool player, but Alonso’s 2005 Champions League winner’s medal sets him apart from Fernandinho.
Ultimately, they are two very different players who fulfilled their different responsibilities at the base of midfield in equally sublime fashion.
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- Leicester City, 2015-2016; Chelsea, 2016-present
Everyone’s favourite footballer, N’Golo Kante has a story unrivalled by any of the above. He was, after all, a player in the bottom half of Ligue 1 before being signed by Leicester City in 2015 for just £5.6m.
Leicester’s campaign that season has rightly gone down in Premier League folklore – just as Kante himself has. He has won two league titles, an FA Cup, a Champions League, a Europa League, a Club World Cup and a World Cup since crossing the English Channel.
And when it comes to naming the Premier League’s holding midfielder of the 2010s, few would surely name Fernandinho ahead of Kante, unless of course they support Man City.
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