It would be fair to say that Manchester United’s lacklustre summer took a turn for the worse on Tuesday afternoon.
While the Old Trafford faithful have been crying out for the club to go out and sign some players, fierce rivals Liverpool have been doing precisely that, and now it looks like they are on the hunt for Alexander Isak.
In fact, according to some reporters, they are now preparing a £130m offer for the Newcastle United star, despite already spending around £116m on Florian Wirtz earlier in the window.
However, there might still be some good news for United fans, as reports suggest they are looking to bring in someone who could be their answer to the Swede before next week.
Manchester United's underwhelming summer
While it certainly doesn’t feel like it at the moment, the summer transfer window actually started in a rather positive fashion for United.
Transfer Focus
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After recovering from their Europa League final defeat, the club went out and activated Matheus Cunha’s £62.5m release clause.
With the Brazilian being Premier League-proven and amassing an impressive haul of 23 goal involvements in 36 games last season, it is undoubtedly a great signing; however, the problem is that the club haven’t made another since.
Fortunately, that might be about to change. At least that is according to a recent report from the Manchester Evening News, which has revealed that United are closing in on Bryan Mbeumo.
In fact, in some much-needed good news, the report claims that the Red Devils are working hard to bring the Brentford man in before they begin their pre-season next week.
The club have already seen two offers rejected, with the latest being around £60m, but according to stories from earlier this week, they’ll need to pay £65m to get this deal over the line.
It’s certainly a lot of money to spend on one player, but given Mbeumo’s ability, it would be worth it, and it could be United’s own Isak-type addition.
Why Mbeumo could be United's Isak
Now, the first thing we’ll say is that, no, we don’t think Mbeumo is as good a player as Isak, but that doesn’t take away from the fact he’s still brilliant, and that isn’t really what we’re trying to say either.
Instead, we’re arguing that the Cameroonian international could have the same sort of impact on United in an attacking sense that the Newcastle ace could have for Liverpool.
That might sound absurd to some, but it’s really not, especially considering the difference a seriously dangerous Premier League goalscorer could have on this Red Devils side is far greater due to their current position, and the Brentford man is most certainly a dangerous goalscorer.
For example, in 38 league appearances last season, totalling 3417 minutes, the Bees’ “mini-Salah,” as dubbed by pundit Jason Cundy, scored 20 goals and provided eight assists.
That comes out to a brilliant average of a goal involvement every 1.35 games, or one every 122.03 minutes.
That would have made him comfortably the top scorer and most productive player in Ruben Amorim’s squad last season, ahead of Bruno Fernandes with eight goals and 11 assists in 36 games.
More impressively, however, it wasn’t too far off Isak’s tally.
Appearances
38
34
Minutes
3417′
2774′
Goals
20
23
Assists
8
6
Goal Involvements per Match
0.73
0.85
Minutes per Goal Involvement
122.03′
95.65′
In a far better team, the Swedish striker scored 23 goals and provided six assists in 34 league appearances, totalling 2774 minutes, which comes out to a goal involvement every 1.17 games, or every 95.65 minutes.
Finally, with the “phenomenal” Bees gem, as dubbed by one analyst, being able to play off the right or up top, he’d have even more opportunities to influence proceedings at the Theatre of Dreams next season.
Ultimately, Mbeumo is not as good a player as Isak, and nobody would suggest otherwise, but he is still an incredible attacker, and there is every chance that he could be as game-changing for United as the Swede might be for Liverpool.
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