- Manchester United winger must improve
- Stellar start to the season
- Drop off under Michael Carrick
Manchester United forward Bryan Mbeumo is said to be “happy” with life under interim head coach Michael Carrick, whilst the club’s hierarchy believes the Cameroonian will only continue improving as the club heads towards the 2026/27 season.
Before the Africa Cup of Nations began in December, a genuine feeling around Old Trafford suggested Mbeumo had beaten out Benjamin Sesko, Senne Lammens, and Matheus Cunha as the club’s signing of the season.
Now, he has slipped down that list and, depending on who you ask, may even sit at the bottom of it.
The winger—who Carrick has deployed as a striker on numerous occasions—has still impressed this term, scoring 10 goals across all competitions, the second-highest tally in the squad, whilst nine of those have arrived in the Premier League, joint-second most at the club.
But since Carrick took the reins, Mbeumo’s form has dipped slightly, and he now searches for a way to rediscover his sharpness ahead of next season.
READ: Latest Manchester United news and updates
FOLLOW: Read Man Utd on Facebook, Instagram and X
Mbeumo’s Dip
Ben Jacobs has told The United Stand that Mbeumo remains happy under Carrick despite his dip in form, whilst United’s hierarchy continue to believe he will improve as the club edges towards the 2026/27 campaign.
Mbeumo exploded out of the blocks at the beginning of the season. By the ninth game of the campaign, he had already scored four goals and registered one assist.
That run included his first-minute strike against Liverpool, which for a period stood as the fastest goal in the Premier League that season. Even under Carrick, Mbeumo started brightly and quickly looked like one of the players the Englishman could trust.
Against both Arsenal and Manchester City, Mbeumo opened the scoring for United, meaning he had already found the net against both title challengers and the reigning champions during the campaign.
The Cameroonian’s form in front of goal only strengthened from there. Mbeumo scored against Tottenham Hotspur before producing back-to-back assists against West Ham United and Everton—both laid on for Sesko.
But since that Everton fixture on 23 February, Mbeumo has failed to score or assist once, whilst his performances have gradually drifted away from the level he showed earlier in the season.
At times under Carrick, he has looked wasteful in front of goal and has failed to impose himself in the same way he did whilst operating from the wing under Ruben Amorim.
A return to the right-hand side briefly lifted his form again, but that momentum slowly faded once more.
The Season Ahead
Much like Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui, Mbeumo has not looked like the same player since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations. The forward helped Cameroon reach the quarter-finals of the competition, scoring just once before the side fell to Mazraoui’s Morocco national football team.
Since returning to Manchester, Mbeumo has struggled to rediscover rhythm or consistency. There is a fair argument that the winger has simply played too much football this season.
But with United preparing for a campaign that will include significantly more matches—at least 48 compared to this season’s 40—Mbeumo needs to become a player the club can consistently rely on as they chase deep runs in the FA Cup, the EFL Cup, the UEFA Champions League, whilst also pushing for a second successive top-four finish in the Premier League.
With Cameroon now set to miss the 2026 World Cup after falling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the play-offs, a proper summer rest may end up serving Mbeumo better than anything else.
