It’s only been 13 games.

Manchester United still hasn’t lifted any silverware.

But already, Bruno Fernandes is proving the single-most influential signing the club has made since Robin Van Persie.

His latest man-of-the-match performance came in United’s 3-0 drubbing of Brighton and Hove Albion.

If ever one team has brought out the worst in the modern-day United and exposed its many woes time and time again, it has been Brighton.

But not even United’s Premier League bogey side could hold a candle to the Fernandes-inspired Red Devils.

If Fernandes can lift what remains an average United team to become genuine Premier League contenders and, dare we say, winners, then he may well have Eric Cantona’s status as the club’s single most influential piece of transfer business in his sights.

Any comparison with the talismanic Frenchman who led a talented, but raw, United team to the summit of the inaugural Premier League, sparking almost three decades of dominance of the English game, is not made lightly.

There remains a long, long path ahead of Fernandes and his team-mates to reach such dizzying heights.

But such has Fernandes’ impact been in such a short period and so great would the continuance of that turning into a Premier League challenge next season that it is a comparison that cannot be escaped.

And while dreams of seeing a Manchester United Premier League triumph remain something of a fantasy, the quality Fernandes has displayed in United’s engine room and the impact that has had on the players around him that the prospect titillates even the most pessimistic of United fans.

Van Persie famously said that “little boy [inside him] was screaming ‘Manchester United'” when he joined the club in 2012.

The football Fernandes plays and inspires from his team-mates must surely inspire similar cries of excitement from the little boys and girls inside Manchester United’s admirers all across the globe.

If United fans have been spoiled over the years with delightfully deliciously football and reared on memories of George Best, Sir Bobby Charlton and Denis Law for one generation and David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo for another, then Fernandes is – finally – the sort of player that sparks joy.

That Fernandes can have such an aesthetically pleasing effect on the football matches he plays in and the teams he plays for, whilst marrying his brilliance on the ball with his doggedness and determination off it makes him an even greater asset to this particular United team.

So often filled with undoubtedly gifted players who give the impression they would rather be anywhere but Old Trafford, Fernandes is a breath of fresh air.

He does not survive on exceptional talent alone.

He thrives because he matches his natural playmaking ability with gut-busting defensive efforts and inspiring on-field leadership.

In perhaps his worst performance since signing for the club, Fernandes proved his commitment to the cause during United’s FA Cup quarter-final win against Norwich.

He raced the diagonal length of the pitch to lay a meticulous tackle on Norwich’s overlapping left-back Onel Hernandez deep into extra-time.

It was a contribution that might not make the highlight reels should United pick up the famous trophy, but it was an insight into the winning mentality Fernandes brings to the side.

Should the club go on to finish this heavily disrupted season with a trophy to add the cabinet, it would be no less than the club’s new Portuguese midfielder deserves. 

He has lifted a mediocre team both in confidence and quality to a level compatible with the best teams in the Premier League.

Before his arrival, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign as Manchester United manager looked doomed to be short-lived.

A tale of a nice guy and a fan favourite who did not have the quality to see United through this never-ceasing transitional period to reestablish the club he won so much with as a player as Premier League and European contenders once again.

But just as Van Persie reignited the belief in a beleaguered United side throughout the 2012/13 season – which would prove Sir Alex Ferguson’s last and the club’s last successful Premier League season – Fernandes has lifted a squad short on quality, experience and belief into one that looks almost unbeatable.

His success since joining in the January transfer window only serves to highlight the gargantuan failure it was on the club’s part not to seal the deal over the summer window.

A trophy in 2019/20 would see Fernandes stand on a level footing with Van Persie in terms of most important signings.

And from there, it would be conceivable to think that Cantona would be in his sights.

With Solskjaer’s team brimming with raw talent and youthful exuberance, Fernandes has the potential to take the ‘Cantona’ role in a team dying for an on-field talisman.

Such is his ability and desire to make a success of his move to Old Trafford; you know it’s the sort of comparison that Fernandes would love to justify.