Rio Ferdinand has picked out two key stars who have had huge impacts on Manchester United’s positive form in recent weeks.
As Rúben Amorim reaches one year as Manchester United manager, ex-red Rio Ferdinand reflects on how changes have been implemented over the year in his recent YouTube video.
Ferdinand highlights the ‘turmoil’ that was surrounding the team which Amorim inherited. United sat at fourteenth place, compared to this year’s seventh showing positive signs of improvement under the new management.
Amorim has been also able to make changes to the team over the summer to help United get back on track, by making important transfer decisions and building a stronger group dynamic. It can be argued that many of the players signed during Erik ten Hag’s period as manager haven’t been up to United’s standards.
United spent roughly £195million on Antony, Rasmus Hojlund and Andre Onana (TransferMarkt) who have all now either left or are extremely likely to leave the club. This reckless use of limited money has been a key change that United fans have called for in the new Amorim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe regime.
Ferdinand describes the impressive impact of Mbeumo and Cunha
Two players that Ferdinand picked out as having a positive impact on the squads confidence under Amorim were summer signing’s Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha.
Mbeumo signed from Brentford for approximately £70million in July. The winger has had a huge impact on the team’s form with five goals and an assist, making him United’s current top scorer in the Premier League.
Cunha has also had a positive start to his United career, despite an early injury the forward continues to show his quality and justify his £62.5 million price tag.
Ferdinand highlighted the love of football that both these stars have and how it has improved the squad morale. He went on to say that the duo are ‘Tactically very astute and they have a real good confidence that they’ve brought to the squad that is really feeding through the team’.
Both players being Premier League proven has made allowed them to fit into the team with ease and feel familiar with the clubs attributes and importance. Ferdinand went on to praise United’s director of football, Jason Wilcox, and his team for the use of data and recruitment throughout the summer.
When Amorim has been able to get the players he wants we’ve seen an ‘upturn’
United are currently unbeaten in five games, a huge change to the form that has been seen throughout Amorim’s first year where back to back Premier League wins weren’t achieved until the wins against Sunderland and Liverpool (the start of the unbeaten streak).
Ferdinand continued to back the manager throughout his year reflection saying “When the manager gets his players that are recruited based on what his profile of player is meant to look like then we can start judging him and we seen an upturn in momentum building, building confidence”.
Read More: Manchester United labelled ‘favourites’ to sign Bundesliga defender in 2026
As the winter fixture list piles up United look forward to breaking into the European spots which was one of the key desires for Ferdinand.
Cunha and Mbeumo have been key to the positivity surrounding the club during the international break, the stars will return to the pitch in United’s next game at home to Everton on Monday 24th November. The duo will both be expected to start and continue their hot form.
Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is streamed live every Thursday at 14:00 pm (GMT) on the United View YouTube channel.