Whisper it softly, but Manchester United are starting to find some momentum for the first time in Ruben Amorim’s nearly year-long spell in charge. After a dreadful start that saw them lose to Arsenal and
draw to Fulham in the league as well as lose on penalties to League Two side Grimsby Town, United have managed to turn things around in recent weeks, ascending to sixth in the table, one point above Liverpool and level on points with fifth-placed Manchester City. One of the biggest catalysts has been Bryan Mbuemo.
The Red Devils traded one Cameroonian player for another this summer, dispatching goalkeeper Andre Onana to Trabzonspor as well as signing Mbuemo for £65 million guaranteed and £6 million in potential add-ons. In contrast to Onana and other Cameroon players like Napoli’s André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, D.C. United’s Borus Enow, and Brighton’s Carlos Baleba, Mbuemo didn’t grow up in Cameroon, but France, rising through the Troyes youth ranks before breaking into the first team in 2018. It didn’t take him long to become a vital presence in attack, racking up 12 goals in 46 senior appearances and leading them to the verge of promotion to Ligue 1, before departing his boyhood club after six years and making the move across the English Channel.
Mbuemo made the move to London in 2019, joining Brentford for a club record fee of £5.8 million and penning a five-year deal. It didn’t take long for him to make a name for himself in English football, scoring 16 goals and 7 assists in 47 appearances across the COVID-afflicted 2019/20 season and leading the Bees to the Championship play-off final, where they lost 2–1 to Fulham, prompting him to be nominated for the EFL Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards at the 2020 London Football Awards. Whilst his goal-scoring numbers dipped to just 8 goals in 49 appearances, Mbuemo made up for it with 13 assists to lead Brentford back to the final, where he won an early penalty before engineering Brentford’s second goal to secure a 2-0 win against Swansea City.
Against all odds, Brentford finished comfortably mid-table in their first top-flight season in 74 years, 11 points above the drop, and they did so thanks to Mbuemo, who chipped in with 8 goals and 7 assists in 38 appearances before racking up 9 goals and 8 assists in 39 appearances in 2022/23 and 9 goals and 7 assists in 27 appearances in 2023/24. However, following Ivan Toney’s gambling suspension and subsequent move to Saudi Arabia, Mbuemo was forced to step up as the team’s attacking talisman under Thomas Frank, and he did just that, striking up a deadly partnership alongside Congolese striker Yoane Wissa and racking up 20 goals and 9 assists in 42 appearances. It’s why United decided to make Mbuemo front and center of a summer rebuild that saw them make changes in goal and undergo a complete makeover in the final third. Out went Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Hojlund as well as returning loanees like Antony and Marcus Rashford; in came Mbuemo, Benjamin Sesko and Matheus Cunha for a combined €225m.
Since joining United, Mbuemo has started in 9 of 10 appearances and played the full 90 in 7 of 10. The only time that he came off the bench was against Grimsby, where, after replacing Patrick Dorgu at halftime, he opened his goal-scoring account for United, only to squander the final attempt to give Grimsby a famous 12-11 shootout victory. However, Mbuemo would bounce back with a goal against Burnley before blanking in his next three – losses at Manchester City and Brentford and a home win vs. Chelsea – but he nevertheless turned things around at the start of October by assisting Mason Mount’s opener in a 2-0 win vs. Sunderland.
He proved decisive in the following match vs. Liverpool; after being knocked to the floor in a collision with Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister, he picked himself up and raced past Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté and latched onto a through ball from Amad Diallo before coolly knocking it past Giorgi Mamardashvilli to open the scoring after a minute. Mbuemo racked up three shots (two on target) and one key pass to lead United to a 2-1 win vs. the defending champions, prompting praise from England’s top footballing presenters like James Richardson, Kay Murray and Jeff Stelling. He was back at it again at the weekend, bagging a brace in a 4-2 win vs. Brighton, and he’ll be looking to score for the third straight match and lead United to a fourth straight victory on Saturday at relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest, before traveling to Tottenham Hotspur in a rematch of this year’s UEFA Europa League Final.
Mbuemo will then travel to Morocco, where he’ll be looking to register a goal contribution for the fifth straight window and lead the Indomitable Lions past Wissa’s Congo; if they win, they’ll face either Nigeria or Gabon three days later in a vital match that will determine who will be Africa’s sole representative at the Inter-confederation play-offs in March. Having previously represented France at the youth level, Mbuemo has thrived since switching over to Cameroon in 2022, registering 7 goals and 3 assists in 26 appearances, and he could be set to play in his second World Cup next summer. Before that, however, he’ll be looking to make a positive impression in his first-ever AFCON, as Cameroon brace themselves to take on a stacked group of Gabon, Mozambique and defending champions Ivory Coast.
