The former Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney has given some high praise to one of the Reds’ new blockbuster summer signings, and believes him to be ‘United signing of the season’.
On the most recent episode of the ‘Wayne Rooney Show’ on BBC Sport, when it came round to covering Manchester United’s 4-2 win over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, the United legend provided some very high praise for new summer signing Bryan Mbeumo.
When breaking down Mbeumo’s performance, one of the aspects of the Cameroonian’s game that seemingly impressed Wayne Rooney the most is his positioning.
He could be quoted as saying: “I think that’s the main thing. If you consistently get in the right positions, getting chances, you will score,” with him believing that Cameroonian has now ‘started’ to do this more constantly in a United shirt, and hopefully will be able to replicate the numbers he put up at Brentford last season.
Rooney was also very complimentary of Mbeumo’s ‘energy and work rate’, with him describing it as “what you need to be a Man Utd player, with this being something that a lot of United signings post Sir Alex Ferguson have lacked, as well as now believing, after some early skepticism he held, that “he’s shown he belongs here”.
Mbeumo emerging as a key player for Amorim
Following a whipped cross assist against Sunderland and his emphatic opener that silenced the Anfield crowd just past the opening minute last Sunday, Mbeumo has been on a hot streak of form, with him now adding a match-clinching brace against Brighton to claim the three points for United.
Rooney also made sure to highlight this when discussing the player’s form, recognising the effect that scoring in back games can have on a forward’s confidence.
He could further be quoted as saying: “When you’re a forward, you score goals, you enjoy scoring goals, and that feeling keeps going and that’s why you see players going on streaks of scoring eight, nine, ten, eleven goals on the bounce, and then maybe when they don’t score, they don’t score for a few games.”
Rooney then also went on to further praise Mbeumo, saying ‘his confidence is very high at the minute’ and hoping it continues, as well as then branding him as “The best signing for Man United this season”.
Mbeumo’s Impact
Since joining United in the summer for a £70 million total package, Mbeumo has scored 5 times, with vital goals such as his opener against Liverpool and his brace against Brighton, ultimately being goals that won both games for United.
Even when the Cameroonian hasn’t found himself on the scoresheet this season, he has still found himself being involved in decisive moments that have played a major part in many United victories.
An example of one of these game-deciding moments would be the darting run to get on the end of Benjamin Śeško’s flick on against Chelsea, before being brought down by Robert Sanchez, who was subsequently sent off, and led to United only having to play against ten men, where the team then went two goals up and saw the game out for a much needed victory that helped ease pressure off the manager.
After also building up a strong relationship on and off the pitch with Amad, Mbeumo has proven to be a fan-favourite since joining, finally providing a solution to the issue that has been the high side of United’s attack, which has plagued the team for years, and has become a key component to the most exciting attack United fans have had the pleasure to watch for many years.
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