Matheus Cunha
Matheus Santos Carneiro da Cunha
Current Club: Manchester United.
Previous Clubs: Wolverhampton Wanderers, Atletico Madrid, Hertha BSC, RB Leipzig, FC Sion, Coritiba.
Loan Clubs: Wolverhampton Wanderers.
International: Brazil 15 caps 1 goal.
Trophies Won: Olympic Gold medal 2021.
With Man Utd struggling badly last season, it is seen as somewhat of a coup that they could attract Cunha over other suitors due to their historical pull. It shows what a huge difference history can make, when it comes to signing a Brazilian international coming into his prime. Admittedly, they were helped massively by the fact that he was coming from a team that has struggled against relegation in the last few years.
As for the player himself, Cunha does seem to be an excellent signing for United. He is as close as we get to a maverick player in the modern game (sadly they are not much liked by modern day managers, who prefer robots to follow their tactical instructions over flair), something that has always suited the Red Devils as a club. They have been at their best with the likes of Best, Cantona and Berbatov doing their own thing. Added to that, he is a good age, 26 years old, just coming into his prime, joining a team that has lots of young talent and older, experienced heads, but no one in this age profile.
Most clubs tend to look to buy youngsters to develop these days, but Man Utd needed a ready made, ready to slot in, player to put them back on the right track and he looks to be the right choice. Last season, United did lack goals and creativity, often relying on Bruno Fernandes to step up and win the game on his own, Cunha should go a long way towards changing that.
He is very good on the ball, very difficult for defenders to deal with because he is a very good dribbler, but can also play a good through ball or smash the ball into the back of the net from all kinds of angles and distances. Cunha's crossing is also very good and he is capable of getting his head on a cross from someone else too. Overall, he is an excellent technical player with very good physical attributes too. He is pacey and strong, making him particularly threatening on the counter and probably explains why he got fouled a lot.
There are a couple of potential issues with him that people have raised. Firstly, a lot of people worry about his discipline after his involvement in a couple of unsavoury incidents last season. While that is understandable, it does seem to be very much out of character for him judging by his track record and it seems very unlikely to be a problem. The other one was based on those odd stats that sometimes get released to create talking points. In it, he was listed as the player that spent the most time walking on a football pitch, other than centre-backs.
Again, I would suggest that is not really an issue. Cunha was used as the player to lead the counter for Wolves, who spent most of the season struggling and so, for large periods of the game his job was simply to conserve his energy ready to lead a counter attack. If he was running about more, it would probably have adversely affected his performances. It will come down to whether that is an attitude issue or, if I am correct and it is him following instructions. Certainly I would expect Ruben Amorim to want more work rate out of him.
For United, Cunha looks an ideal signing, a player who favours playing on the left side of the attack, where they are particularly lacking, but can also play all over the front line if needed. He looks like a signing that will move them a major step forward for the new season, with the right talents to be a huge success.
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