{"id":489612,"date":"2026-02-25T12:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T12:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/489612\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T12:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T12:50:11","slug":"man-united-player-who-surprised-bryan-mbeumo-most-was-on-verge-of-leaving-in-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/489612\/","title":{"rendered":"Man United player who &#8216;surprised&#8217; Bryan Mbeumo most was on verge of leaving in January"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bryan Mbeumo has been impressed from what he has seen of his fellow Manchester United forward in training at Carrington over the last few months<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Bryan Mbeumo during the Premier League match between Everton and Manchester United at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. \" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_Everton-v-Manchester-United-Premier-League.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Bryan Mbeumo has impressed since joining Manchester United in the summer. \" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Bryan Mbeumo has impressed since joining Manchester United in the summer. (Image: Michael Regan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Manchester United summer signing <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/bryan-mbeumo\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">Bryan Mbeumo<\/a> has named striker <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/joshua-zirkzee\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">Joshua Zirkzee<\/a> as the player who has surprised him most at the club since joining.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Mbeumo has impressed since making the move from Brentford to <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/manchester-united-fc\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">United<\/a> for a \u00a365 million fee back in the <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/summer-transfer-window\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">summer transfer window<\/a>. But it\u2019s not been as easy for Zirkzee, who arrived at the club from Bologna for \u00a336.5 million a year earlier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The Dutchman has so far scored nine goals in 67 appearances in all competitions for United. In comparison, Mbeumo has already scored 10 goals in 23 appearances in all competitions for the club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">It\u2019s no surprise, then, that Mbeumo has been preferred ahead of Zirkzee in the starting line-up so far this season. However, speaking on <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hVFLWQynQ8o\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Inside Carrington<\/a>, alongside his fellow forward, Mbeumo has highlighted Zirkzee&#8217;s quality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">FOLLOW OUR MAN UNITED FB PAGE!<a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ManUtdMEN#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\"> Latest news and analysis via the MEN\u2019s Manchester United Facebook page<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">When asked if there was anyone who has surprised him since he joined the club, he pointed towards Zirkzee and said: \u201cThis guy on my left.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m not watching football a lot, so obviously, when I joined, I knew the players but I didn\u2019t know really how they were playing and I was really impressed with Josh because he\u2019s a lot more skilful than I would have thought, with the ball and he can just hold the ball very easy with his body and a good strike.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Joshua Zirkzee during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Manchester United at London Stadium.\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_West-Ham-United-v-Manchester-United-Premier-League.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Joshua Zirkzee has struggled for regular game time so far this season. \" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Joshua Zirkzee has struggled for regular game time so far this season. (Image: Justin Setterfield\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The comments come around a month after Zirkzee was heavily linked with a move away from United. Serie A side Roma were <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/sport\/football\/transfer-news\/man-united-transfers-palmer-zirkzee-33283461\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">showing an interest<\/a> and there were even reports in Italy that the player had agreed personal terms to join.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">But Zirkzee was ultimately keen to stay and fight for his place at <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/old-trafford\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Old Trafford<\/a>. United also <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/sport\/football\/transfer-news\/manchester-united-transfers-joshua-zirkzee-33257378\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">had a clear stance on any potential sale<\/a>, with Roma director of football Frederic Massara saying: &#8220;Man United said no quite clearly a couple of weeks ago and they have not changed their minds.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Speaking back in January, before his sacking, then United boss <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/ruben-amorim\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">Ruben Amorim<\/a>, also made his stance clear. &#8220;I want to keep Josh because he gives everything and he\u2019s trying in training but we don\u2019t know,\u201d he said at the beginning of the month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=manchestereveningnews.co.uk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Click here to activate<\/a> or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;The window is open and we will see what happens. We just need to focus on training and to take this for the other games.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Despite remaining at the club in January, Zirkzee has found regular game time hard to come by over the last few weeks. After recovering from a knock that saw him miss two games, the striker has played a total of 11 minutes over four <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/premier-league\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Premier League<\/a> games under interim boss <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/michael-carrick\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">Michael Carrick<\/a>, coming on as a late substitute in the win over Tottenham and the draw against West Ham.<\/p>\n<p>Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package<\/p>\n<p>This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/affiliates\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Learn more<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Content Image\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771455551_237_0_Sky-Factbox.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a349<\/p>\n<p>\u00a335<\/p>\n<p>Sky<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"AffiliateContent_content-buy-btn__xWiVO buy-btn\" aria-label=\"Buy button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.awin1.com\/cread.php?awinmid=11005&amp;awinaffid=213635&amp;campaign=&amp;clickref=Regionals-FootballLondon&amp;ued=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sky.com%2Fdeals&amp;platform=pl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\">Get Sky Sports here<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Sky has slashed the price of its <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.awin1.com\/cread.php?awinmid=11005&amp;awinaffid=213635&amp;campaign=&amp;clickref=Regionals-FootballLondon&amp;ued=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sky.com%2Fdeals&amp;platform=pl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">Essential TV and Sky Sports<\/a> bundle for the 2025\/26 season, saving members \u00a3336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games this season, an increase of up to 100 more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bryan Mbeumo has been impressed from what he has seen of his fellow Manchester United forward in training&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[8918,14195,4566,403,99],"class_list":["post-489612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-bryan-mbeumo","tag-joshua-zirkzee","tag-manchester-united-fc","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}