Ahead of Bryan Mbeumo‘s first return to former club Brentford on Saturday, we analyse the impact he’s made during his early weeks at Manchester United.
Jeers and whistles will likely be audible from the stands, while in the directors’ lounge there’ll be a frostiness you wouldn’t usually expect between dignitaries of Brentford and Manchester United, who could hardly be considered rivals.
Widespread briefings – seemingly from United – after the deal went through suggested the two clubs did not see eye to eye during their negotiations for Bryan Mbeumo’s transfer this summer. The BBC, for example, claimed United felt Brentford dragged discussions out and told them they could get more for the player elsewhere.
The fact many United-connected reporters hinted at such posturing after the move’s completion spoke to the club’s apparent frustration.
While Mbeumo’s conduct throughout wasn’t reported to have been anything other than professional, the broader fallout will still in all likelihood contribute to him attracting some animosity at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday.
The early kick-off will be his first return to the stadium he called home for six years and the club who shaped him into the talent he is today.
First, he aided them in earning promotion to the Premier League for the first time, then he helped establish them as top-flight mainstays with two top-10 finishes, playing a prominent role when available.
He’d already emerged as an interesting proposition for bigger clubs, and then he scored 20 Premier League goals in 2024-25; links with United – who were seeking adaptable wide players who’d also be comfortable in central areas – quickly arose and Mbeumo, apparently a childhood supporter of the club, had only one destination in mind.
Given United’s dismal 2024-25, Mbeumo and their other summer recruits arrived as beacons of hope, proof – in directors’ eyes – that the hierarchy were prepared to give the manager the squad he wanted.
United’s start to 2025-26 has been slow, partly down to the toughest first five fixtures of any Premier League team. And the new arrivals haven’t generally made explosive beginnings to life at Old Trafford.
First five fixtures vs next five fixtures
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1 day ago Ryan BensonThat shouldn’t be misconstrued as criticism, by the way. Benjamin Sesko’s situation is quite nuanced, while Matheus Cunha’s start was interrupted by injury.
But if any of the new players can already lay a claim to being key in Ruben Amorim’s starting XI, it’s Mbeumo.
The Cameroon international seems to have settled quickly. While it’s not the case that goal involvements have flowed freely for him, he’s been prominent in his outings and there are already signs of United looking to exploit certain aspects of his game.
It won’t have been lost on United just how active Mbeumo was at Brentford. He barely stood still.
When Brentford weren’t in possession, he worked tirelessly, with his 2,250 total pressures in the Premier League last term seeing him rank ninth among all players.
But this work ethic was evident when Brentford were in possession as well.
The only player in the Premier League last season who made more off-ball runs than Mbeumo (891) was Crystal Palace’s supernatural wing-back Daniel Muñoz (959).
Of those 891, 418 were in behind the opposition’s defence; Ollie Watkins (410) was the only other Premier League player to tally at least 390 off-ball runs in behind last season.
Mbeumo spent so much of his time looking to trigger balls beyond the opposition’s defence, confident in the knowledge he had the speed, strength and technical quality to make the most of such situations when the ball did make it to him.
Prime examples of him capitalising on these opportunities could be seen with his first goal at home to Brighton in April…
And when scoring at Chelsea in December…
It’s worth saying that by no means did such instances make up the majority of his goals last season, but United certainly seemed to appreciate the weapon this could be. And the data around his off-ball running speaks for itself.
The best, most successful example of this in action for United came just last weekend when Mbeumo burst forward to latch onto Sesko’s headed flick-on, racing clear before being taken out by Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sánchez after just four minutes. The Spaniard was sent off and that was a pivotal moment in United’s 2-1 win.
In this season of throwback trends, the sight of the towering Sesko flicking headers on for Mbeumo in something of a ‘little and large’ partnership up top very much fits the brief. Furthermore, it was a moment of danger that almost certainly wouldn’t have come about were it Rasmus Højlund leading the line instead of Sesko.
back to the future?
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23 hours ago David SegarUnited’s attempts to release players in behind this term won’t be a coincidence as it’s been notable in some of their most dangerous periods of play in 2025-26. And it stands to reason; almost everyone Amorim has fielded in his front three this season is quick, dynamic and capable of carrying the ball over long distances. And with Cunha – who thrived for Wolves in transition-based attacks – now back from injury, United’s hope will be that the dynamism and interchangeability of the front three becomes a great asset.
But Mbeumo – generally taking up slightly narrower positions than last term – is the one who’s looked most attuned to this.
Again, when looking at total off-ball runs, Mbeumo is right up there. His 128 in that metric puts him second among all players after Enzo Fernández (138), though the United attacker is out in front when it comes to runs in behind (83). His closest challenger is Watkins (69), while Viktor Gyökeres (60) is the only other player with more than 53.
Of course, Mbeumo’s early contributions at United go beyond just putting one foot in front of the other at speed. A return of two goal involvements (two goals, no assists) in all competitions is steady albeit modest, though he’s tallied the most minutes (429) of any attacker for the team who’ve generated the most expected goals (10.1) in the Premier League this term.
Their 2.03 xG per game is United’s best average on record (since 2011-12) in a single Premier League season, while their 1.71 non-pen xG per game is their third best on record.
We do obviously have to be careful not to read too much into xG so early in the campaign, as such a small sample size means the data can be skewed or be seen out of context. But it is a positive sign considering how tough United’s start to the campaign has been.
Mbeumo’s certainly contributing to the threat they’ve carried.
Only Erling Haaland (21) has had more shots in the Premier League this term than him, with Mbeumo’s 15 attempts being the most by a player in their first five league games for United since Antony in 2022 (18).
He’s also created nine opportunities for teammates, putting him joint eighth in that respect.
When we look at both metrics a little deeper, the extent of Mbeumo’s attacking impact becomes even clearer as his non-penalty expected goal involvements (expected goals + expected assists) of 3.1 is second only to Haaland (6.7). The United forward is the one player in the Premier League with at least 1.0 non-pen xG and 1.0 xA to his name this term.
As noted before, it’s early days of course, and it’s also worth pointing out that Mbeumo’s performances haven’t been excellent across the board. He was ineffective for the first hour against Manchester City, his first shot – of four, eventually – not arriving until the 61st minute, by which point United were 2-0 down.
Having said that, it probably wouldn’t be realistic to expect the level of output that he produced at Brentford last term anyway. After all, his 7.5 overperformance relative to non-pen xG (15 non-pen goals, 7.6 non-pen xG) was a massive deviation from his previous years in the Premier League.
In 2023-24, Mbeumo underperformed relative to non-pen xG by 1.4; the season before he underperformed by 0.8; in 2021-22, he only scored three non-pen goals from 8.8 non-pen xG.
But the signs are at least still positive even if tempered by early-season caveats. United needed more forwards who were capable of being reliable when it came to creating or influencing goalscoring chances and happy operating in more central spaces. At the moment, from his right-sided number 10 berth, Mbeumo is generally passing the tests laid out before him despite United’s attack still being relatively unsettled and unfamiliar.
There’ll be plenty of noise around Mbeumo’s return to Brentford, but the numbers help cut through it. His off-ball movement remains excellent, his chance involvement is trending upwards and he’s quickly become a central figure in United’s attack. Whether the goals flow like last season or not, the underlying data reflects a player who’s quietly but efficiently improving the productivity of United’s frontline — which is precisely what he was signed for.
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