Manchester United summer signing speaks out on ‘tough’ start to Old Trafford life

Bryan Mbeumo admits it has been a tough start to his Manchester United career, but is enjoying life since his summer move from Brentford.

The Cameroon international signed for the Red Devils from the Bees in a deal worth an initial £65m as the club revamped their options in attack.

Matheus Cunha arrived from Wolves and Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig as Ruben Amorim hopes to conjure up more of a goal threat from his team.

How much Amorim has managed to improve his team over the summer is still up for debate after a difficult start to the season which has seen them win just one of their four matches so far.

There was an encouraging performance on the opening weekend against Arsenal, but the clash at Old Trafford ended in a 1-0 defeat.

A draw at Fulham followed before a nightmare trip to Grimsby in the Carabao Cup which ended in a penalty shootout loss to the League Two side after a 2-2 draw, with Mbeumo missing the final spot kick.

The Red Devils did bounce back from that humiliation, just, as they beat Burnley 3-2 in the Premier League thanks to an injury time penalty from Bruno Fernandes.

Mbeumo scored his first goal for the club in that win, the first of the campaign, in what the forward admits has been a testing start to the season, but one he is still enjoying.

‘It’s been tough,’ the 26-year-old told MUTV. ‘Obviously I was expecting a lot from here because it’s a big club. It’s a big everything. I’m really happy with what happened to me here, the teammates, the staff, everyone in Carrington are lovely people.

‘You really want to come in and work here every day, which is really good. When I first arrive somewhere, I don’t really know, I don’t like to be loud or show myself a lot [be outgoing].’

On a personal level in the Premier League it has been a solid start to his Manchester United career for Mbeumo as he was voted the club’s Player of the Month for August.

Amorim has continued to struggle though, even admitting that sometimes he ‘hates his players’ although this changed after the Burnley win.

‘When they put the effort in, I always love them,’ Amorim said. ‘I think we need to understand that we should always be on this level of effort.

‘Because even in the game, we played well in the beginning. I think we struggled when we changed the characteristics of the players because the match is not so perfect and you can feel that the team struggled a little bit, especially in the second half. But the effort was always there.

‘It ended well, I think we deserved to win the game, I think we created a lot of chances, we should go to the half-time with a bigger advantage.’

Amorim also hailed Mbeumo specifically after the narrow win over the Clarets, saying: ‘It was impressive, the way he stretched the team, the quality he has in the first touch.

‘You can feel that we are a different team, because when we win the ball, we have one guy stretching the team. Last season we struggled a little bit with that.’