Man Utd's thumping Ipswich win highlights their best transfer work this summer

They paraded Carlos Baleba ahead of kick-off, all £70million of the injured midfielder. The stadium announcer also demanded recognition for new signings Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Karl Darlow, which was duly given.

And in a boisterously-acclaimed first win of the season, two of last summer’s marquee recruits, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, played influential roles.

But this entertaining victory over an easy-on-the-eye Ipswich Town was further proof - as if it were needed - that Manchester United’s best business in recent times has been keeping hold of Bruno Fernandes.

Remember when he suggested the Europa League final defeat to Spurs might be his last game for United? Remember the back-and-forth with Al Hilal? The telephone-number figures put to him by his prospective Saudi employers?

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Just over a year on - and a PFA Player of the Year and a Football Writers Association of the Year award later - and Fernandes remains United’s captain, remains United’s talisman, remains United’s most creative player, remains United’s best finisher. He is not throwing as many tantrums as he once did, either.

But seriously, there is probably no other player in the Premier League who is as important to his club - as key to his team’s fortunes - as Fernandes is to United. He turns 32 next week but his new contract is going to have to be a very lumpy one. His current deal ends next summer and policies about how much is paid to United employees of his age are going to have to be revised.

That United won this game in an attractive canter was down to a thoroughbred of a player. A player who is gloriously maintaining his form post-30, unlike team-mate Luke Shaw. United’s need for a left-back has been pretty obvious for some time. Abdul Fatawu made it painfully obvious in the first half. The United defender’s powers of recovery are in serious decline, and it was far too easy for the Ipswich winger to set up the Leif Davis opener.

If the assist was about pace, the finish was about purity of strike. And a lot of what Ipswich did at Old Trafford was sweet until Marcelino Nunez slipped and allowed Cunha to send Fernandes clear.

What happened next changed the whole direction, the whole mood of the contest. With his left foot, Fernandes took his finish early, surprising Kjell Scherpen with a left-foot hit of the highest order.

That United would go in front early in the second half owed something to fortune, Harry Maguire clearly handling the ball before seeing his hooked strike diverted past his own keeper by Jacob Greaves.

Apparently, the fact that it was an own goal negated, in the eyes of VAR, any offence committed. That is a loophole that needs to be closed. Greaves has had a better few minutes in a football shirt, that is for sure.

Soon after, he brought down Cunha and the Fernandes conversion from the spot was the work of someone totally at ease with his talent. And he was the first to react when Kobbie Mainoo’s shot was deflected into a dangerous area, again finishing with a customary level of calm.

Ipswich - who got a late second from Chuba Akpom - could take a degree of credit for their speed and occasional ingenuity on the counter-attack but United, inspired by their skipper, were enjoying themselves.

And that enjoyment was encapsulated by Mbeumo adding a fifth by lobbing a keeper who stands taller than the Blackpool Tower. It turned into one of those days for United - another day that belonged to Bruno.

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