Matheus Cunha joined Manchester United last summer. With his debut season almost in the books, it can be viewed as a positive campaign. Albeit the best is yet to come.
Manchester United signed Matheus Cunha last summer, almost as soon as June arrived, making him the earliest signing by the club in a decade.
This highlighted how badly United wanted to sign the Brazilian, and the £62.5m spent to sign him has so far looked like good business.
Cunha has helped set the recruitment policy for Ineos this coming campaign with his success. But it hasn’t been all positive, with the attacker also taking some time to settle into life at Old Trafford.
This included making one massive change.
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Matheus Cunha says he had to ‘un-Wolves’ himself at Manchester United
Despite not yet reaching his best for United, Cunha feels like a Red Devil already in both character and form during the second half of this season.
Speaking with TNT Sports presenter Owen Hargreaves, Cunha has now admitted the difference between the early stages of the season and his last 18 games, which have seen 11 goal contributions.
“You can feel how much smoother we are [recently]. In the beginning, I felt like I was Cunha from Wolves, playing a different game than what I need to play here.
“After a couple of months, I realised I needed to adapt my game to another level, with more time we feel more together. I adapt to learn how Bryan likes the ball, how Ben likes the ball, Bruno, and Amad.”
Cunha went from being a one-man team at Wolves to being a key part of a machine at United, where he has teammates equally as talented as him.
This is what has taken time to unlearn with a ‘hero-ball’ style at Wolves, not compatible at the highest level, and learn he has.
Cunha also praised having talented players around him, in particular Bruno Fernandes, as a factor in his evolution.
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The best of Cunha is yet to come for Manchester United
Cunha has enjoyed a strong opening campaign representing one of the biggest clubs in football, but this won’t be his best season for United.
Cunha turns 27 in May, in his prime years as a footballer, and this means we are going to get a significantly upgraded version of the Brazilian next season.
At Wolves, Cunha had a slow start to life in England, costing them £35m in January 2023, only to get two goal contributions in 17 games that season, which saw him prematurely labelled a potential flop.
However, over the next two seasons, he had 19 and 21 goal contributions in the Premier League alone.
So by his own standards, 12 in a debut season is excellent, and next season he should be surpassing 20 in the league alone and 30 all competitions – at least.
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