Bryan Mbeumo was the scourge of Man United in their generational nadir at Brentford in August 2022.
Samuel joined the Manchester Evening News in 2014 and is the Chief Manchester United writer. He has broken exclusives on Jose Mourinho’s appointment, the re-signing of Cristiano Ronaldo, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking, the club’s interest in Ralf Rangnick and Erik ten Hag, as well as numerous other transfers and team news. He has represented the MEN on the BBC, Sky News, Sky Sports News, TalkSport, Radio 5 Live, CNN and various other media outlets worldwide.
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Mbeumo will be wearing a different shirt at Old Trafford next season
Matheus Cunha signed last month, Bryan Mbeumo will sign this month and Sir Dave Brailsford is being phased out. The road to recovery has begun smoothly for Manchester United.
The club is making decisions they should be making. Mbeumo fit the bill two years ago and the smart move (and money) would have been to go for him last year when most eyes were fixed on his Brentford teammate, Ivan Toney.
A source who has dealt with Mbeumo billed him as a “terrific guy and a proper professional”. One of his close relatives was already a United fan, which helped matters despite Mbeumo’s close relationship with Thomas Frank, who lobbied new club Tottenham to move for him.
Brentford verbally accepted United’s offer on Thursday and the news emerged on Friday. The only ‘deadline’ was United’s flight to Chicago on Tuesday. Mbeumo should now be on it.
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Andre Onana had advised Mbeumo to choose United over Tottenham and sources confirmed he is “so happy” that his fellow Cameroonian is now United-bound. That sentiment is shared by the rest of the United dressing room.
Cunha is a spikier character and one source at Wolves said he would “turn on the charm” in certain scenarios. Any squad worth its salt needs some edge and United’s best player of the past 12 years has been Bruno Fernandes, one of the most truculent players in the Premier League.
Cunha auditioned for United with his virtuoso matchwinning performance on Boxing Day. It wasn’t a one-off. He got 15 Premier League goals last season and he was an appealing target during his first full campaign in Wolverhampton in 2023-24.
Mbeumo and Cunha are the latest United additions who scored against them. Both are Premier League quality, albeit at clubs with expectations a fraction of United’s. A cynic might question whether United can thrive with the best players bought from clubs lower down the Premier League food chain.
No signing is foolproof but recruiting from the league is a significant shift from United. They cut corners as recently as last summer with Joshua Zirkzee, a Dutchman with a release clause playing in a league that has been in decline for nearly 20 years.
The corner-cutting was often expensive under Erik ten Hag, whether it be reuniting him with an overpriced Ajax alumni or someone who suddenly joined his agent’s stable. Granted, there were a couple of English players Ten Hag coveted (Declan Rice and Harry Kane) but his hit rate was undermined by the sheer volume of Dutch-schooled signings.
United missed the boat with Kane and Rice
Until this summer, Mason Mount was the only player United bought from a Premier League club since Harry Maguire in 2019. Whatever United’s strategy, they have always made a pig’s ear of it or swiftly reneged on it.
Cunha and Mbeumo are deals that will generate plenty of nods of approval. They strengthen the first team, offer goals, versatility and vibrancy. United have been at pains to stress they are not recruiting players for Ruben Amorim’s singular 3-4-2-1 system and that is true of Cunha and Mbeumo.
United should feel pretty bullish when they emerge from the Stretford End tunnel against Arsenal four weeks on Sunday. Cunha, Mbeumo, Amad, Bruno Fernandes and Leny Yoro could be in their line-up. Mbeumo and Cunha are more than £130m of attacking talent going into a team that recorded an unforgivable -10 goal difference last season.
Cunha and Mbeumo: soon to be on the same side
There is still the glaring issue of the No.9. Amorim might be reduced to his haunches sooner than usual on the opening weekend if he sees Viktor Gyokeres with a cannon stitched onto his shirt and glances across at Zirkzee or Rasmus Hojlund.
If there is no new striker by then, Amorim has to omit Zirkzee and Hojlund from that first XI as a point of principle. The resale value argument has gone out the window with five United players already in the bomb squad and United know if they are to shift Hojlund it will almost certainly be on a season-long loan.
United made mistakes in signing Hojlund and Zirkzee
Amorim benched Hojlund and Zirkzee as far back as February. United did not score and lost 2-0 at home to Crystal Palace. Amorim always picked a striker after that experiment.
The sudden return of Zirkzee, more effective in a withdrawn role, for the Europa League final was a desperate measure and hardly a ringing endorsement for Hojlund, who fired blanks again in Bilbao before he made way. That was the 16th game United failed to score in.
Mbeumo was on target four days later, in his final appearance for Brentford. Cunha was on the opposing side.