Can Mbuemo and Cunha ignite Manchester United?
After enduring one of their worst seasons in their top-flight history, Manchester United have quietly begun another summer rebuild.
For the record, this is the fourth consecutive summer and season in which the club has faced a need to rebuild.
After rebuilding in Erik ten Hag’s first season, Manchester United invested heavily again, bringing in the likes of Rasmus Hojlund, Mason Mount, Andre Onana, Altay Bayindir and Sofian Amrabat in Ten Hag’s second summer.
However, those signings were not enough to return Manchester United to the top, with the Red Devils dropping from their third-place finish in the previous season to eighth place in the 2023/24 season.
They did win the FA Cup that season, which gave Erik ten Hag the chance for another rebuild.
Despite their many failures that season, Manchester United's owners gave the former Ajax coach the keys to their bank account for another summer rebuild. The 20-time Premier League winners spent close to €250m on new signings.
Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee, Patrick Dorgu and Noussair Mazraoui were signed that summer, and it was thought that Ten Hag’s third summer would be all that is required to launch Manchester United back to their perch.
However, rather than launch Manchester United back to their perch, it drove them even further down the Premier League abyss.
The Red Devils won just four of their first 14 games of the season. By October of last season, with Manchester United sitting 14th on the league table, Ten Hag was sacked, going with him a transfer spend of £600m during his tenure.
His sacking cost United another £13 million, while the Red Devils spent another £9.25 million to hire Ruben Amorim. At the end of the day, over £620m had ‘gone to the drain’ in trying to fix the club under Ten Hag.
Amorim, who replaced the Dutchman, did not do much better in his first half season at the club. When he arrived, it was expected that the first half of the year would be spent rebuilding the club.
However, those first six months were spent trying out new ideas – ideas that never truly improved the club, with the Red Devils finishing in 15th place at the end of the season despite selling many Premier League tickets, one spot behind where Ten Hag had left them.
Another summer Rebuild
So here we are in another summer of ‘rebuilding’ and reshaping the club.
The club has been a bit slow but measured in bringing in new players. The idea is that the Red Devils are looking to address the areas of the squad with the most issues.
So far, they have signed Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo. Both players have cost Manchester United a combined £130 million.
That is a significant outlay on just two players, when it appears that Manchester United need a new player for every position.
Some fans of the Old Trafford persuasion and those who buy Manchester United tickets will feel that there are other areas of the pitch where strengthening is needed, than the attack, especially as Ruben Amorim’s side have players who have excelled in those positions, albeit away from the club.
Jadon Sancho, Antony and Marcus Rashford all succeeded on loan away from Old Trafford in the second half of last season. All three players play in similar positions to Cunha and Mbeumo. But for whatever reason, they have failed to click at Old Trafford.
So will Cunha and Mbeumo solve the problem that Sancho, Antony and Rashford couldn’t solve at United? Will the trio ignite the Amorim revolution and finally lead to the Old Trafford rebuild?
What Matheus Cunha brings to Manchester United
Matheus Cunha has come a long way since his move from Brazil as an 18-year-old. Spells in Sion, RB Leipzig, Hertha BSC, Atletico Madrid and Wolves have prepared him for his move to Old Trafford for £63m.
He joins the Manchester United squad following a truly great season, during which he played a key role in Wolves having a decent season in the top flight.
The 26-year-old recorded 21 goal involvements in the Premier League this term, two more than the 19 he managed in 2023-24, with 15 of them goals – that’s a career best for a single league campaign.
Last season, Cunha was one of the Premier League’s top performers when it came to goal contribution. He ranked 9th for both the share of his team’s goals he scored (27.8%) and the total he was involved in through goals or assists (38.9%). That’s pretty similar to the season before, when he was 9th for goals scored (24.0%) and 4th for overall involvement (38.0%).
Over the course of the last two seasons, Cunha has scored 27 goals in 65 Premier League appearances, making him regarded at United as someone who can make an instant impact while also adding valuable experience to the team. His goals and creativity will certainly help a Manchester United side in dire need of goals.
The Red Devils managed just 44 top-flight goals in 2024-25 - a club-record low in the Premier League era. In the 2024-25 season, Cunha’s 15 Premier League goals equalled the record for the most goals scored by a Brazilian player in a top-flight season, along with Roberto Firmino (2017-18) and Gabriel Martinelli (2022-23).
He will add that to Ruben Amorim’s side. Creativity, movement, sharp finishing, linking up play, and unpicking defences with moments of individual brilliance will help United fix their much-publicised goal-scoring problems.
The Brazil international would appear to be a pretty sound fit for Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3 system. Cunha has already spent the majority of this season operating within a similar tactical framework, as both Gary O’Neil and later Vítor Pereira have utilised a 3-4-2-1 formation at Wolves — the very system that Rúben Amorim consistently employs. Within that setup, Cunha has primarily featured as the left-sided attacking midfielder (number 10), having played 61% of his minutes in that role this season.
He has proven over the past two years that he’s more than capable of impressing in the Premier League, and Amorim’s Manchester United could be ignited by his quality.
What Bryan Mbeumo brings to Manchester United
Manchester United’s search for a striker has been intense and varied, and several names have been suggested. But in Bryan Mbeumo, they are signing a multi-faceted attacker who can operate across the front three.
Mbeumo is another player who could light the fire in Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United side.
Like Cunha, the Cameroon international comes into this Manchester United side on the back of a truly remarkable season. The 25-year-old netted 20 goals and registered seven assists in the Premier League last season - both career highs.
Mbeumo offers a rare blend of goal-scoring and creativity. Among the Premier League’s leading scorers this season, he stood out as arguably the most creative. Only three players netted more than his 20 goals. While he ranked 17th in assists with seven, he topped the league for expected assists (xA) with a total of 9.3.
The gap between his xA and actual assists suggests that his teammates’ finishing let him down, and he likely deserved a few more assists. For context, Mohamed Salah registered 18 assists—11 more than Mbeumo—despite having a lower xA of 9.1.
In terms of finishing, however, Mbeumo significantly outperformed expectations and his underlying metrics. After never previously reaching double figures in a Premier League season, he surged to 20 goals in 2024–25, exceeding his expected goals (12.3 xG) by a remarkable +7.7 — the highest overperformance in the league. Across Europe’s top five leagues, only Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick recorded a greater xG overperformance, with +8.5.
Among all players who scored 10 or more goals in the Premier League this season, only four averaged more touches per 90 minutes than Mbeumo (50.5), highlighting his strong involvement in overall play compared to other goal scorers. In fact, among the seven players who scored more than 15 goals, he led the group in touches per 90, underscoring his all-round contribution.
Such a level of dedication and precision will bring the goals that Manchester United are currently lacking.
Conclusion
On paper, Cunha’s creativity and Mbeumo’s clinicality are exactly the fuel Manchester United need to hit the heights under Ruben Amorim.
It remains to be seen whether that will happen, as Manchester United have become used to many false dawns in the past.