Bruno Fernandes receives Premier League assist record trophy despite backlash over final one

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Bruno Fernandes has been presented with a trophy by the Premier League for breaking the record for the number of assists in a single season. Fernandes moved onto 21 on Sunday during Manchester United's 3-0 win over Brighton to surpass Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne's tally of 20.

The United captain's corner was headed in by Patrick Dorgu to put the away side 1-0 up. Further goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Fernandes himself secured the three points to see Michael Carrick's side finish the campaign on a high.

Fernandes' final assist has been allowed to stand by the Premier League, despite suggestions on social media that it should have been chalked off. Fans have posted slow-motion replays of Dorgu's goal, which appear to show the ball hitting the bar and then cannoning over the line off Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, meaning it could have gone down as an own goal.

The Premier League does sometimes retrospectively change goal attributions, but it has not changed anything in this case, allowing Dorgu's goal - and more importantly - Fernandes' assist to stand.

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The United captain's achievement was rubber-stamped after the game, with the Premier League releasing a video on Monday which showed him being delivered a trophy. "Ahhh, this is a nice trophy," he can be heard saying before posing with it for a photo.

United said in a statement on their website: "Our congratulations go to Bruno, who is into the history books once again. We couldn't be more proud of your contribution, skip!"

The trophy tops a fantastic individual campaign for Fernandes, who was also named the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year. The 31-year-old finished with nine goals and 22 assists in 37 games across all competitions for United, who finished third in the Premier League.

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Asked by Mirror Football in a recent interview what it meant to join United legends Wayne Rooney , George Best, Sir Bobby Charlton and Cristiano Ronaldo in winning the FWA award, he said: “I want to achieve everything that those players achieved in terms of winning with the club.

"But being in their company with this award is massively important for me and I won’t hide from that. It will always be the prize for me. That’s always what my goal has been. I’ve never hidden from that. As I said before, I’m not very good at hiding things!

“I speak out whenever I want on what I want to achieve and what I want to achieve is winning the league and winning the Champions League .”

Fernandes has just 12 months remaining on his current contract, but Carrick is sure he will stay put. “I’ve got no reason to think otherwise," he said on Sunday.

“We’ve loved what he’s done and he loves being here, I think you can see that. He wanted to stay on (the pitch), he wants to stay on every single game because he’s enjoying his football, which is fantastic.”