Ruben Amorim is leading a cultural reset at Manchester United so to kick it off with a player who would be right at home under Sir Alex Ferguson is not a bad start.
After securing the low-risk signing of Enzo Kana-Biyik, Man Utd have made their first splash of the transfer market by securing Matheus Cunha.
Cunha fits like a glove in the No. 10 role in Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-2-1, and his qualities have been praised endlessly after a breakout season.
The signs are good, he’s proven in the league, but perhaps the biggest endorsement he could receive is that he would be Sir Alex Ferguson’s ideal player.
Matheus Cunha and Sir Alex Ferguson’s demand from attackers
Sir Alex Ferguson might not have had a transformational impact tactically on the next generation of coaches, but what he did was insane and unlikely to be ever repeated.
In fact, Ferguson’s ideal players had more intangibles than any particular quality like physicality, dribbling, or ball progression.
When he spoke about his ideal attackers in his autobiography, My Autobiography, he said the following-
“The Old Trafford crowd build up heroes quickly. They see someone who gets their rears off seats and take to them right away. They excite the crowd. They get bums off seats.”
His idea of an ideal attacking player had more to do with invention and a fearless style of play rather than a particular position or trait.
In Matheus Cunha, Amorim is being given a maverick who embodies those words by Sir Alex Ferguson in their truest sense.
Matheus Cunha has described his playing style
Cunha might have truly broken out this season for Wolves, but the breakout has been in the works for a long time.
He had a difficult period in RB Leipzig when he was just a teenager but a Puskas Award nomination showed the mercurial talent he possessed.
In an interview with Bundesliga around that time, Cunha described his playing style as having lots of flair and being rich technically.
He said: “I think we still have a little Brazilian instinct that allows us to do these different things [what he did for the goal embedded above]. In Brazil, everyone jokes with me that it was a goal more from futsal and indoor football.
“The goal was definitely inspired by futsal because I used to play a lot of futsal and it’s the sport that I love the most. I even like it more than outdoor football.”
He added that Ronaldinho is his footballing idol and that flair comes through in his gameplay as well. United have been screaming out for a player who gets the Old Trafford faithful out of their seats, and in Cunha, they’re finally set to witness one.
Sir Alex Ferguson is probably smiling ear-to-ear.
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