Aaron Wan-Bissaka believes Bruno Fernandes’ encouraging start to his Manchester United career is partly down to the Spanish players who were already with the English giants.
Portugal midfielder Fernandes impressed on his debut during a goalless draw with Wolves a fortnight ago and is set to feature again when United face Chelsea on Monday in their first match since the Premier League’s winter break.
The 25-year-old Fernandes, who arrived at Old Trafford from Sporting Lisbon in a deal worth an initial 55 million euros (£47 million, $61 million) that could rise to 80 million euros in add-ons.
He has since got to know his new team-mates at United’s training camp in Marbella, southern Spain, where the likes of David De Gea and Juan Mata have helped him adjust to life at United.
“I think he (Fernandes) has settled in right,” Wan-Bissaka told United’s website.
“He’s got a few of the Spanish players looking after him and we’re just looking forward to what he brings to the team,” the English defender added.
United had a week’s break after the Wolves match before manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took his squad to the Costa del Sol.
“It felt good, after the week off we had,” Wan-Bissaka said of the trip to Spain. “It’s good to be out in the sun and to regroup with the team.
“I think it was needed, with the amount of games we’d been playing. (It’s) something that helped a lot,” he explained.
United are currently six points behind fourth-placed Chelsea in the race for a Champions League position but have already beaten the London club twice this season.
They won 4-0 at Old Trafford on the opening weekend of the league season in August and then defeated Frank Lampard’s men 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in a League Cup tie in October.