Manchester United’s Bryan Mbeumo has recently been awarded captaincy of his country, Cameroon, as two big names miss out on making the squad for the upcoming AFCON tournament.
The reason for this late-minute captaincy of the 26-year-old is due to Vincent Aboubakar and Manchester United loanee Andre Onana, not making the cut for the AFCON squad.
The Red Devils forward has thoroughly deserved this role after his incredible form as of late, netting 20 times last season for Brentford, and rising to the big occasion at Man United, scoring seven times already for his new club and earning a Premier League Player of the Month award.
He has proven that he welcomes challenge and steps up when his side needs him, making him a great role model for Cameroon.
However, this is not all good news for Bryan Mbeumo, as although he has been entrusted with guiding his teammates to victory on the pitch, which would have been a dream for him for some time, he also has the responsibility of keeping them away from the major drama taking place off the pitch as well.
Issues in Cameroon’s camp
There is a rather bizarre situation currently going on around the Cameroon national team, mostly surrounding a feud among the masses surrounding the manager.
As relayed by Sports Witness, Marc Brys was appointed as the team’s manager last year in preparation for the upcoming AFCON. However, a major disagreement broke out within Cameroon’s football administration, creating a divide over the manager’s job.
Legend, Samuel Eto’o became a huge activist on the side going against Brys, ultimately resulting in the manager losing his job and being replaced by David Pagou amid a public statement from the former Barcelona striker.
The drama did not end there, with Brys crazily insisting that he has not been officially sacked yet. As a result, two Cameroon squads have been announced.
Furthermore, Mbeumo’s captaincy is still not finalised, as Brys’ squad include two players supposedly above him in captaincy rankings, Onana and Aboubakar, whilst Pagou’s squad axes both of them.
Effect on Mbeumo and United
With the players leaving for AFCON still possibly having one more game to play for United against Bournemouth, Ruben Amorim will want the players solely focused on the Premier League.
However, with all the drama circulating, it is going to be very difficult for Bryan Mbeumo to ignore. With the Cameroonian players deemed to be helpless in this situation, a lot of responsibility falls on the one man with power, the captain, Bryan.
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With so many lies and speculation, such as the claim that Pagou was told to exclude Aboubakar from the squad to protect Eto’s goalscoring record, the magnitude of the job could really have a negative effect on United’s star man mentally.
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