Yannick Bolasie Compares Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes to Kevin De Bruyne

Sporting CP winger Yannick Bolasie has compared new Manchester United signing and former team-mate Bruno Fernandes to Manchester City talisman Kevin De Bruyne.

Expectations are high after United signed the Portugal international for a reported £47 million late in the January transfer window, per BBC Sport.

Bolasie—on loan at Sporting from Everton—told James Nursey of the Mirror Fernandes, 25, "has the lot" and compared the player with De Bruyne, who has pulled the strings at the Etihad Stadium since August 2015:

"When he was at Sporting he controlled all the matches. Everything Sporting did went through him. He can play with both feet and is not afraid to shoot with his left but his right foot is his main foot. He can see a pass and has good long-range passing, free-kicks and penalties.

"He is at his best getting on the half turn and making passes in between the lines. He likes giving passes and likes scoring, that is his game. He knows what he can do and is good at and can link up with the forward players really well.

"He has his own style because he has been in Italy before but has similarities to De Bruyne, [David] Silva and [Christian] Eriksen."

De Bruyne, 28, has become arguably the most critical member of Pep Guardiola's lineup at City and played a key role in the club winning back-to-back Premier League titles in 2018 and 2019.

The Belgium star has been named City Player of the Season in two of his four campaigns with the club, going a long way to justifying the £55 million fee that took him to Manchester from Wolfsburg.

Bolasie only spent half a season playing alongside Fernandes in Lisbon, where the latter scored 63 goals and recorded 52 assists in 137 total appearances for Sporting.

The new arrival made his debut for the Red Devils in a 0-0 draw at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, and Squawka highlighted a dynamic first appearance in attack for his new club.

Bolasie has made 119 appearances in the Premier League and has experience against each of De Bruyne, Silva and Eriksen, but he added the pace in England will test Fernandes:

“It will be interesting to see how United end up using him. But he always wanted to play in the Premier League for sure and it is going to be a good test for him.

“It's much slower in Portugal and nowhere near the Premier League tempo.

“In some of the games in Portugal he could probably coast through whereas in the Premier League no matter who you are playing, the opponents won't let you walk over them.”

That transition from the Primeira Liga is the main source of concern among the player's doubters, with Fernandes having failed to impress to the same extent in previous stints with Udinese and Sampdoria.

Fernandes has also received the backing of his new team-mates. Diogo Dalot said he expects the Portuguese to be "a very good player for us and he's going to help us build this team," per Simon Peach of the Press Association.

United will hope his development continues at Old Trafford and that his signing ushers in a new era of success to the same extent that De Bruyne has helped boost City in recent years.