Ryan Baldi: Manchester United and the curious case of Matheus Cunha

IN the aftermath of Manchester United’s humiliating 4-0 loss at the hands of Brentford last weekend, the 20-time champions were linked with a host of transfer targets from around Europe, a sign of their desperate need for reinforcements.

Midfielders, strikers, wingers and full-backs were all supposedly being lined up, some with pie-in-the-sky likelihood of materialising, while other murmurings appeared a little more grounded in reality.

On Monday, the rumour mill coughed out one name in particular that seemed to confound observers for its left-field obscureness, but which also made a curious kind of sense for United’s current predicament: Atletico Madrid’s Matheus Cunha.

New manager Erik ten Hag was reportedly outraged by his side’s effort levels in their one-sided defeat at the Brentford Community Stadium. So much so that he cancelled the players’ planned day off the next day and made them run 13.8km, the exact distance by which, collectively, they were outrun by the Bees.

In the reverses to Brighton and Brentford in their opening two games of the 2022-23 campaign, United have wilted under their opponents’ intensity, outworked and outfought.

There are reports of Cristiano Ronaldo’s desire to leave, while Anthony Martial is injured and no United player has yet scored this term – their only goal of the season thus far, in the 2-1 home loss to Brighton, was an own goal. So it seems strange that United have been linked with a serious interest in a forward, in Cunha, who scored only seven goals in 2021-22 and who hasn’t hit double figures since his maiden season with Sion in Switzerland over four years ago, when he notched 10 in 32 appearances.

But if it is someone who can match the intensity of the opposition Ten Hag seeks, Cunha fits the bill.

According to FBref.com’s statistics, over the past 365 days Cunha ranks in the 95th percentile among forwards in Europe’s five major leagues for pressures per 90 minutes (22.04), the 99th percentile for tackles per 90 (2.14) and the 93rd percentile for interceptions per 90 (0.74).

That #PuskasAward-nominated Cunha goal from every angle 🤯pic.twitter.com/Zc0rIfkj8N

— Manchester United Updates (@MUUpdates247) August 16, 2022

Ten Hag wants his side to press in a manner comparable to that through which Brentford destroyed them in the first half last weekend. And he wants his forwards to set the tone for the pressure under which they place their opponents. At 37, Ronaldo is unsuited to such an approach, while the rest of the United squad have proved as yet incapable of executing this plan.

In addition to the extra mileage they covered across the 90 minutes, Brentford harried United into submission, recording 21 pressures in the attacking third of the pitch. United mustered just seven pressures in their attacking third.

Cunha, who’s undying off-ball work ethic was honed during an 18-month spell with RB Leipzig earlier is his career and which evidently caught the eye of the uber-demanding Diego Simeone and his Atletico scouts after a subsequent move to Hertha Berlin, would represent and instant upgrade in this glaring area of inefficiency for United.

The 23-year-old Brazilian, who can play anywhere across the front line, is also a more reliable scorer that his seasonal returns suggest. Although he is scoreless in seven appearances at senior international level, Cunha’s modest tally of six La Liga goals last season was accumulated at an impressive rate of 0.51 goals per 90 minutes.

Across his career to date, he has scored 0.37 goals per 90 and from chances worth an average of 0.42 expected goals per 90. While the fact he has only spent one full season as a regular starter – 2020-21 with Hertha – means there is no guarantee these numbers would extrapolate to a huge output if stretched across a full campaign in United’s first XI, they certainly suggest he is a capable goal threat.

So that there is an apparent stylistic and tactical theory behind United’s reported approach for Cunha suggests that there is a degree of method to their mad, en masse scramble for reinforcements ahead of the 1 September transfer deadline.

But even within the thread of discernible reasoning to their move for Cunha, there are the hallmarks of the kind of desperation and irresponsibility of United’s recent past and present transfer dealings. The fact that it is mid-August and, with no prior rumblings of interest, they are now said to be willing to fork out €50m to seal a quick deal for a player who doesn’t start regularly for his current club does not signify the well-oiled workings of a savvy market operator.

And that, 24 hours after their keen interest was reported, United’s advances have allegedly been rejected by Cunha is a sorry indictment of their current predicament. Even when there’s a kernel of competence to their talent identification, they still can’t quite get it right.