Agbonlahor brands Fernandes 'horrible teammate' as United's dressing-room crisis deepens

Gabby Agbonlahor has launched a scathing attack on Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes, calling him ‘a horrible teammate’ and ‘a disgrace’ after the Portuguese midfielder publicly criticised manager Michael Carrick in the wake of United’s 4-1 Champions League defeat to Como.

Fernandes’s outburst made him the second high-profile United player in the space of days to publicly undermine the coaching staff. Lisandro Martinez had already drawn headlines with incendiary comments directed at the club’s hierarchy following a 2-0 defeat at Atlético Madrid — remarks for which he later apologised to Carrick and senior figures at the club.

Agbonlahor, speaking in his capacity as a pundit, did not hold back. “Don’t get me started on him. He is a disgrace,” he said. “Starting with Bruno Fernandes, I’ve been saying it for years, he’s showing himself when the going gets tough at Manchester United now — how is he the captain of that football club?”

The former striker pointed to specific moments during the Como defeat as evidence of Fernandes’s poor attitude, noting that the midfielder threw his arms up at Youri Tielemans after a cross failed to find him. “He’ll be the player in the dressing room that the players dislike,” Agbonlahor added. “You’re giving the ball away then taking it out on your teammates — what a horrible teammate you are.”

Agbonlahor also praised Carrick for substituting Fernandes at the hour mark. “When he got dragged at 60 minutes, I was like, ‘fair play to you Michael Carrick, if you’re going to go down and get the sack, you’re going down your way.’”

The defeat to Como extended United’s winless run to seven matches across all competitions, and reports have since emerged that Matheus Cunha was involved in a heated exchange with Carrick during or after the game, suggesting the tensions within the squad run deeper than individual outbursts.

Carrick is under mounting pressure with four fixtures remaining before the next international break — a home game against Bournemouth, a trip to Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea, and back-to-back home matches against Roma and Aston Villa. Reports linking potential replacements to the role are already intensifying, with Fabian Hurzeler, Antonio Conte, and Julian Nagelsmann all separately named as candidates. Nagelsmann, who departed the Germany national team role in the summer, is said to be emerging as the frontrunner.