Marcus Rashford’s goal aside, Manchester United hardly created chances of note and were lucky to escape from Portman Road with a 1-1 draw against Ipswich Town on Ruben Amorim’s debut as the new head coach.
The Portuguese was not too happy with the lack of fluidity from his new players with plenty of them not looking like they have long-term futures under the ex-Sporting Lisbon boss.
Even after bringing on both Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee in the second-half, the visitors could not find the winner and had Andre Onana to thank for returning home with one point.
Goals have been hard to come by for the Red Devils who are joint-18th for goals scored in the English top-flight this term with United’s three strikers combining to score only eight goals so far.
Mbeumo interest
And as per CaughtOffside, the 20-time English league champions are among the teams keeping a close watch on Brentford’s red-hot frontman Bryan Mbeumo.
The Cameroonian has eight goals to his name already and is the league’s third-top scorer and his exploits have caught the eye of Premier League’s big guns.
Arsenal and Newcastle are looking at the 25-year-old ahead of a possible January approach with Liverpool and Villa also among the interested parties.
“Arsenal and Newcastle United are among the transfer suitors for Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo ahead of January, CaughtOffside understands.
“Other clubs monitoring Mbeumo’s situation are understood to be Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa, while Brentford are expected to ask for around £40 million for the 25-year-old.”
Interestingly, the Cameroon international’s deal at the Gtech Community Stadium is valid until only 2026 and teams can possibly acquire him for a lower fee than anticipated.
United’s striker targets
The Bees will be asking for £40 million with Thomas Frank already admitting that the London club would find it hard to hold on to the versatile forward for too long.
If recent rumours are anything to go by, Amorim’s preference would be to land his former Sporting protege, Viktor Gyokeres. But with so many teams in the race, it will be far from easy.
And hence, the numerous backup targets. Mbeumo has shown he can handle the intensity of the league and certainly fits INEOS’ mould. But a winter approach seems unlikely given the budgetary constraints.
And with other more interested suitors in the race, the Red Devils are better served waiting to try and land Gyokeres next summer instead.
Feature image Michael Regan via Getty Images
Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
