Matheus Cunha drew comparisons to Eric Cantona before he’d even kicked a ball for Man Utd, and now that he’s flourishing, Steve Bruce, who played with Cantona, has given his take on those comparisons.
Omar Berrada generally isn’t one to hype players, so it was interesting to see him go to another level by comparing Matheus Cunha to Eric Cantona.
At the time, Cunha was yet to play for United, but the more games he plays, the more that lofty comparison starts to make sense.
Cunha has a long way to go to match that legacy at Old Trafford, however, and Cantona’s former teammate, Man Utd legend Steve Bruce, gave his take on the comparison.
Steve Bruce on Matheus Cunha-Eric Cantona comparison
More than his raw goals and assists, Cantona is a Man Utd icon for the cultural shift he brought to the club with his force of personality.
Cantona was a born winner who led from the front, and that mentality permeated through to the rest of the squad, who, at the time, were young and had not won much.
That is an interesting facet of similarity because Cunha wasn’t scoring or assisting before his maiden goal against Brighton, but had become a firm fan favourite due to the same reason as Cantona did.
Cunha also plays with his heart on his sleeve, and his impact on the Man Utd dressing room has been talked about by Ruben Amorim repeatedly.
Steve Bruce, who shared a dressing room with Cantona at his peak, has now given his take on the comparisons.
He said: “[Cunha] is not as ‘bad boy’ as Eric. But I’ve never seen and I haven’t seen anybody since walking into a dressing room, who has the ability to turn your collar up for a start and perform the way Eric did.
“So, it’s a big [comparison of Cunha to Cantona]. To be in that category is fantastic for people to make the comparison. Eric was quite simply unique in what he did.
“He had all the traits of the bad boy, but he had the backing of everybody around him, the players and the manager who managed him fantastically well. But his ability was absolutely there for everybody to see.”
Cunha’s legacy will be dictated by trophies
Cunha’s impact at Old Trafford has been immense already, but he only needs to look at Bruno Fernandes to realise how legacies are shaped.
Forget United, Fernandes has been one of the Premier League’s best players since his debut for the club, but detractors remain.
That is only because his individual numbers haven’t translated to club success, while the likes of Cantona have a mythical status due to the amount of silverware they won.
To his credit, Cunha has seemed like a proper team player who is willing to run himself to the ground regardless of his own numbers as long as the wins keep coming.
He knows his legacy at the club will be dictated by his trophies, and if he manages to achieve it, he’ll rewrite the legacy of Fernandes as well, which is long overdue.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
