Edinson Cavani has had a positive impact at Man Utd this season after joining the club on a free transfer. Bruno Fernandes has praised the...
Bruno Fernandes has praised the selfless work rate of Edinson Cavani and believes his defensive work is his most valuable trait for Manchester United.
The Uruguayan turned in a near-perfect performance as Manchester United beat Roma 6-2 in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final last week.
Cavani netted United's equaliser and then put them 3-2 ahead. He also assisted goals for Fernandes and Greenwood, and won a penalty.
The 34-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and it remains to be seen if he'll sign an extension. Both parties must agree for Cavani's contract to be extended by an extra year.
Speaking ahead of the second leg, Fernandes insisted Cavani's work rate is his most valuable trait.
"The most important thing with Edi for me is not the movement he does or the goals he scores but the way he helps off the ball," he told BT Sport.
"People like to see numbers so see how much he runs each game – he's normally in the top three and he's a striker!
"You see how he helps us defending, you see when he or someone else loses the ball he tries to recover it straight away and press."
He added: "The mentality he has is passing to us and he has to keep passing it to us because he has the right mentality to be a champion and we have to learn from that.
"Everyone can see his technical qualities because he made history everywhere else he's played and nobody can delete history."
Fernandes was also quizzed on his blossoming relationship with Paul Pogba, who has impressed playing in a more advanced role from the left-hand side.
"I think the relationship between me and Paul is working well of course, but in the same way we know that relationship can work with me and other players because Paul has the qualities, I have the qualities and the rest of our team-mates do too.
"I think everyone can have that relationship where you know what you have to do on the pitch and when you know what your team-mate can do.
"That relationship is built on the training ground and everyone is ready to have that kind of relationship that I have with Paul or with Edi, or Marcus (Rashford) or Juan (Mata).
"For example, I’ve played fewer games with Juan but I know at any moment when I have to play with him on the pitch I know him as well as anyone because I know the type of game he has and that is really good for me."
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