Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha - What do they bring to Manchester United?

Manchester United endured their worst Premier League season ever last season, finishing in 15th place and only scoring 44 goals. Heading into the summer transfer window, it was clear that Amorim’s men needed attacking reinforcements and these have now come in the form of two proven Premier League talents: Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo. Using all the data available at Gradient Sports, we delve into what they will bring to the team.

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Scoring Contribution

‍After joining from French outfit Troyes 6 years ago, Mbeumo played a key role in helping Brentford reach the Premier League and subsequently stay in said league. In 136 Premier League games for the club, he scored 42 goals and made 30 assists, in other words he had a goal involvement in every other game. Manchester United will be getting a player who last year ranked 5th for chances created (72) and joint 4th for goals scored (20). His finishing last season was deadly, scoring a goal every 4.5 shots (including penalties) and ranking 5th for the most positive Gradient Shooting Grades in the league, and was also consistently below the league average for the percentage of negative shooting grades.

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Set Piece Prowess

The addition of Mbeumo to the team will raise one problem for Amorim (albeit a good problem to have) - who will be taking set pieces this season? Both Mbeumo and Fernandes were instrumental to their teams respective set pieces, attempting the 4th and 5th most crosses from set pieces last season. Whilst Fernandes put the ball into a dangerous area 3 more times than Mbeumo, the latter created the second most half chances from set pieces (16) in the league, and ranked 3rd on our Set Piece Crossing Grade (86.5) for Wingers and Attacking Midfielders. Mbeumo mainly took corners from the right hand side with his left foot, so a potential solution might be splitting the load this season between the two players.

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Physical Performance

‍At Sporting, Amorim had his team pressing high and winning the ball back, something he did not quite achieve last season with Manchester United, as they ranked 13th for the percentage of pressures leading to a miscontrol and 11th for the percentage of pressures in the final third. Looking at the data, Mbeumo could hold part of the solution, he ranked 6th for total pressures last season and also had a Gradient Athleticism Score of 95.4, ranking him 10th among all wingers and attacking midfielders.

Mbeumo’s willingness to run extended to when Brentford had the ball, as he made the 3rd most off ball runs, and the 10th most runs in behind the defensive line last season among all players. Having a player who can excel both on and off the ball may give Ruben Amorim the confidence to implement more intensity to his side.

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A Maverick On The Ball

‍Matheus Cunha is a maverick, and will bring some Brazilian flair to the team. Last season he had the 7th most positively graded dribbles, and also the 8th lowest % of negatively graded dribbles for wingers. In fact, he ranked 4th overall for his ball carrying ability in our grading model.

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Cunha isn't afraid to shoot from any part of the pitch, he scored the 7th most non-penalty goals in the Premier League last year (15), and Wolves fans will definitely remember some of his incredible finishes against the likes of Liverpool and Southampton. In fact, he scored the 4th most “+1” shooting grades in the league last season. Although his finishing ability is without question there to be seen, he did record the 4th highest percentage of negatively graded shots as well (out of players with at least 30 shots). Cunha will need to find a balance of providing special moments and operating within Amorim's system, but there's no doubt he can provide a level of quality that isn't currently in the squad.

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Key Figure‍

Matheus Cunha was crucial to Wolves staying in the Premier League last season, he created the most chances for the team and also the most clear chances (10). In fact, he created more clear chances than Wolves' 2nd, 3rd and 4th highest creators combined! He was often relied upon to get the ball forward into dangerous positions, doing so 68 more times than any other player in the team. In fact, only one player created a higher percentage of his team's dangerous positions: Bruno Fernandes. Can you guess who number 3 was? Bryan Mbeumo. 

Cunha’s passing ability can be seen through his passing grade where he ranked 17th overall, and he ranked 7th when he was not put under pressure. 

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Shooting Positions

A lot of Manchester United’s problems stemmed from the difficulty they had in creating clear cut chances. In fact, they scored the least goals within 9 yards in the Premier League last season (6), 4 goals less than relegated Ipswich and 23 goals less than champions Liverpool. It’s an area they need to improve on this season, and interestingly, Mbeumo created the third most chances within 9 yards in the league. The question is, who will be there to actually take the shot? Mbeumo scored 0 goals within that zone last year, and Cunha only fared slightly better scoring 2. For context, Alexander Isak scored 10 goals in that area, with Mo Salah and Erling Haaland each scoring 8.

One area of concern could be that Matheus Cunha took the most shots in the league last season when there was a better option available. Fernandes was 4th and Mbeumo was not that much further behind in 15th. Combined they took 130 shots when there was a player available in a better position. Something Amorin might need to work on if he wants to get Manchester United creating more clear cut chances in high xG areas. 

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Conclusion

Manchester United have signed two proven Premier League players that at the very least should lighten the burden that was put on Bruno Fernandes last season and help the team both with chance creation and goal scoring. Combined, Cunha and Mbeumo scored 1 less goal than the whole Manchester United team last season (bar Bruno Fernandes). At the time of writing, the transfer window will still remain open for another 30 days and I think a lot of what this team will be able to achieve will depend on whether they can offload the players that Amorim does not see fitting in. I'm sure their attention will turn to the No.9 position to challenge Rasmus Hojlund and provide more squad depth.

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