Matheus Cunha’s Lionel Messi-esque trait should worry Ruben Amorim and Man United about £62.5m deal

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Manchester United appear to be leading the transfer race for Wolves forward Matheus Cunha ahead of the summer window.

Ruben Amorim will be pleading for attacking reinforcements this summer with Manchester United struggling in front of goal this season.

Rasmus Hojluind is in a confidence crisis and Joshua Zirkzee’s injury has ruled him out for the season. Amorim watched from the sidelines as United wasted several chances in the 1-0 defeat to Wolves on the weekend.

United have held positive talks over Matheus Cunha just days after he starred for Wolves at Old Trafford.

There is a £62.5m release clause for Cunha this summer and Wolves are open to that being paid in instalments which is a boost to United’s chances of getting a deal done.

Matheus Cunha mirrors Lionel Messi with Premier League stat

United legend Rio Ferdinand believes Cunha is a perfect fit for Amorim’s system. Given that the Brazilian forward plays in a 3-4-2-1 formation at Wolves, it should be relatively simple to adapt.

However, there have been concerns over Cunha’s body language at Wolves, with manager Vitor Pereira criticising his attitude.

According to Opta, Matheus Cunha spends more time walking in matches than any other player in the Premier League this season.

Cunha has spent 77.6% of his game time this season walking. The report points out that walking and conserving energy is a strategy used by footballing legend Lionel Messi.

However, Cunha hardly has the statistics that Messi has to justify his lack of running.

Matheus Cunha work rate clashes with Ruben Amorim’s demands

When Amorim first arrived in Manchester, he pointed out that United do not track back enough and are not physical enough to compete in the Premier League.

Amorim demanded that his players “run like mad dogs”, but it seems as though Cunha does quite the opposite.

READ MORE: How Man Utd see Matheus Cunha fitting in, expected to replace Red Devils star, latest on next transfer targets

Marcus Rashford’s body language was criticised before he was frozen out by Amorim and loaned out to Aston Villa.

Amorim cannot afford United to be sanctioning big-money deals on players who don’t meet his demands on the pitch.