The best and fastest football news aggregator for the UK
On the face of it, deals for former Atletic Madrid player Cunha and potentially Mbeumo would total over £100m and eat into a significant chunk of United’s summer budget before sales.
However, accounting practices mean that is not actually the case.
“When you bring in a new player you would normally put them on a four or five-year contract. The way the accounting works – you take the cost of
Amorim was adamant in Hong Kong that United could work around Fernandes staying at Old Trafford from a financial point of view.
However, the situation is not straightforward.
With no European football of any sort next season, finances will be tight. Amorim has already said he can operate with a smaller squad given there are fewer matches, so sales are inevitable.
Broadly speaking, there are three categories.
Players Amorim just
Manchester United are expected to open talks with Brentford over striker Bryan Mbeumo.
United head coach Ruben Amorim is prioritising signing additional striking firepower this summer to bolster his misfiring attack.
The Old Trafford side scored only 44 Premier League goals last season – the fifth lowest tally in the league – with big-money signings Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee managing only four and three respectively.
Wolves forward Matheus Cunha
Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo says it feels “crazy” to have been nominated for the Premier League’s player of the season award.
The 25-year-old Cameroon international has scored 18 goals and provided seven assists in 36 league outings for the Bees, who are chasing a place in European competition for the first time.
“I didn’t really expect it,” Mbeumo told BBC Sport Africa.
“I know I have [had] a good season,
Kevin de Bruyne, Manchester City, £9.5m – Southampton (a)
De Bruyne has had two double digit hauls in the past four weeks.
He’s started the past five games, so worries about his fitness should not be an issue and the Belgian only has three league games left in his City career.
If he’s going out with a bang, this game against one of the worst teams in Premier League history
Bryan Mbeumo (captain), Brentford, £8.1m – Manchester United (h)
You don’t need much of a reason to pick Mbeumo, FPL’s second-highest points scorer.
But the situation this week is a dream scenario.
Manchester United are almost certainly going to put out a weakened team, with their focus on the Europa League, and it is not like they have been great.
Mbeumo is in form, he takes penalties, is Brentford’s talisman
Their goals against Brighton meant Mbeumo and Wissa have scored in the same match for the 18th time during their Brentford careers.
Only seven pairings in Premier League history have a better overall record.
“That’s an incredible achievement from the two of them,” said manager Frank after the win against Brighton.
“When you consistently over the past six seasons have produced top scorers, that must be something we’re doing right.
Millwall boss Alex Neil:
“Out of the four, maybe five, opportunities [in the last 15 minutes] you’d hope we’d take at least one of them, and we’d have deserved it.
“We’d have been talking about a really good performance, really good win. And don’t get me wrong, we’re still talking about a really good performance but just a bit unfortunate we’ve not been able to get across the line.
“I
Since his first in December, 2021, Mbeumo has scored 10 penalties in all competitions in English football, missing none.
When it comes to just Premier League spot-kicks, only Cole Palmer, Raul Jimenez and Yaya Toure have taken more than the 25-year-old’s nine without failing to score.
Brentford’s last penalty-taking talisman was Toney who scored 11 from 12 yards in the English top flight, but even he missed his penultimate
But Frank is understandably circumspect. He points to last season, when Brentford were on 19 points after 15 matches and comfortably 11th in the table. But a run of 11 defeats in their next 14 games plunged them into relegation danger.
That dire run saw Frank recalibrate his side’s attack, with evident results.
“We started well last season for 11 or 12 games, then injuries hit us hard,” Frank said.