United must abandon their pursuit of this Premier League star before it’s too late – opinion

Manchester United has experienced a sluggish start to the ongoing transfer window, making little progress apart from signing Matheus Cunha from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

While the Brazilian forward comes as a welcome addition to the squad, Man United’s transfer season is far from over, given the sheer number of positions where the club needs to bolster their skills in order to become more competitive.

Amongst all of the transfer links that United have been connected with this summer, only one appears to have a concrete chance of materialising at this time – Bryan Mbeumo.

Although Mbeumo is certainly one of the most exciting Premier League players following his strong performances last campaign, it may be best for United to pull the plug on what has been a rocky transfer saga to say the least.

Troubled waters

Having initially offered £55m for the Cameroonian, United decided to submit an improved bid of £62.5m to Brentford after their first approach was soundly rejected.

Yet again, the Bees said no, with the club clearly aware of United’s burning desire for the versatile forward.

According to Cameroon assistant coach Ashu Cyprian Besong, Mbeumo wants a move to Old Trafford, but his current club remains adamant about fetching a higher price.

A few days later, reports out of Spain claimed that United could get the deal over the line by caving in to Brentford’s demands.

Furthermore, Fabrizio Romano insisted that Mbeumo is hopeful of a United move – all that was needed was an agreement between the clubs on the structure of the deal.

Then, barely a day after the Spanish reports, such hopes appeared to be dashed.

The Peoples Person relayed that United and Brentford still have a notable gap between their valuations of the player, meaning that a deal was not as close to fruition as the previous reports suggested.

Suddenly, the Mbeumo pursuit began to look far too similar to another unfortunate transfer saga.

Warning signs

Back in the Erik ten Hag era, one player who United were constantly linked with was FC Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong.

Over the course of several years, United have made multiple approaches for the Dutch midfielder.

Their alleged €60 million bid for De Jong in the summer of 2022 was soundly rejected.

It was an intense pursuit of De Jong that summer, with then Director of Football, John Murtough, and CEO, Richard Arnold, pictured in Spain in an effort to convince Barcelona to part ways with the playmaker.

Despite negotiations falling flat, United appeared not to have given up on the player. This March, almost three years after the embarrassing transfer drama, they reportedly had a €65 million offer declined as well.

The failures of the De Jong pursuit can teach United an important lesson if they are willing to listen, especially when it comes to Mbeumo.

Time to quit

No matter how badly United wanted De Jong, Barca were unwilling to compromise, regardless of how the player himself may have felt.

This resulted in a massive waste of time, effort, and resources for United, which could have been spent on attracting other players to the squad.

Sadly, the ongoing Mbeumo race seems to mirror the tale of De Jong all too closely.

If United are going to concentrate solely on Mbeumo, they run the risk of two things: firstly, they may fail because of Brentford’s stubbornness in terms of the player’s valuation (much like Barcelona), thereby wasting precious time in a transfer window they cannot afford to mess up. Secondly, they could miss out on alternatives hailing from clubs that are more willing to part ways with their players.

The time has come for United to put their foot down. Pull out of the Mbeumo race before more resources are wasted on a pursuit that appears bound to fail.

Featured Image Alex Davidson via Getty Images

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