Gary Neville: Why Cunha and Mbeumo will end 10-year Man United curse

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has backed new signings Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo to break a decade-long vicious cycle responsible for the club’s downfall.

United land Cunha and Mbeumo

Heading into the transfer window, bolstering the attacking department was United and Ruben Amorim’s top priority.

In particular, the Red Devils wanted to sign two number tens and a striker who could seamlessly slot into Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 set-up.

A deal for Cunha was quickly wrapped up, with United triggering his £62.5m release clause. United then shifted their attention to getting a deal for Mbeumo over the line.

After weeks of negotiations and haggling with Brentford, an agreement was finally struck earlier this month. Both players have since had multiple training sessions with their new teammates and even travelled for the United States pre-season tour.

Cunha turned out for United in both pre-season games against Leeds and more recently, West Ham. Mbeumo missed the West Ham meeting as he is still behind on his fitness programme and needs to catch up.

Neville spoke to Sky Sports and gave his verdict on the two arrivals and why he feels they will come good.

Neville on Cunha and Mbeumo

“Manchester United over the last 10 or 11 years have sort of accepted a position whereby they’ve made mistakes in the transfer market or they’ve made mistakes in recruitment or they’ve held on to players too long.”

“It would seem that what’s happening now, to be fair, is that Ruben Amorim is identifying players he just does not want in the squad and he’s moving them out of the squad. That’s a positive.”

“The second thing is that I do like, on paper, the signings of Cunha and Mbeumo. Why do I like them? A couple of reasons. Well, three actually. One is that they’ve got Premier League experience. They look more like Manchester United’s style of players. They’ve got pace and power and the ability to get from box to box quickly.”

“I think when you look at Garnacho, Sancho and Antony, they’re more ‘junkers’ I call them…people who sort of work in tight spaces.”

“I’ve always felt that United need players who can open their legs up and really stretch teams. I think Cunha and Mbeumo do that.”

Neville continued, “The other thing I like about those two signings is that they’ve not proved themselves at the highest level of the game, with respect to the Premier League level or European club level. They should really be desperate and hungry to prove themselves on a huge stage such as Old Trafford.”

“And that hunger hasn’t always been there the last 10 years, with players who have come to the club. They’ve come maybe where they’re the more finished article and we’ve been excited by them and maybe they’ve come in and not had that desperation.”

“I always feel like a player needs hunger and desperation in their game to feel that it’s the most important thing. I think these two lads that have signed will have that, so I think the two signings are good signings yet, there’s a couple more needed.”

“I think they need a goalkeeper and a centre-forward. And I think if they fill those two positions with decent signings, then United can have a lot, I mean, they have to have a better season than last year. It can’t get any worse, really.”

United return to pre-season action in the early hours of Thursday morning when they take on Bournemouth in Chicago. Kick-off is at 2:30 am.

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