‘Still not at his best’ – Wes Brown demands more from Man Utd signing after Sunderland win

Wes Brown says he is confident Bryan Mbeumo will prove to be a ‘brilliant signing’ for Manchester United, but believes fans are still yet to see the forward’s best level since his arrival in the summer.

The Red Devils saw off competition from Tottenham to strike a £71million deal for Mbeumo following the 26-year-old’s eye-catching season with Brentford, in which he racked up 20 goals and seven assists in the Premier League.

Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko were also brought in to bolster Ruben Amorim’s attack after a disappointing campaign for both Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee, who scored a combined total of only seven league goals last term.

Following on from a promising pre-season, though, Mbeumo has managed just one goal in his opening six appearances for United in the English top flight, with the Cameroon international netting in a 3-2 win over Burnley.

But Mbeumo has quickly won the manager’s trust having started every Premier League match thus far for United, including the side’s 2-0 victory over Sunderland at Old Trafford this weekend.

After a stunning 3-1 loss to Brentford, there was hug pressure on Amorim to deliver a response at the Theatre of Dreams – and first-half goals from Mason Mount and Sesko ensured the hosts came away from the contest with all three points.

Mbeumo had a golden opportunity to extend United’s advantage ten minutes into the second period, but the forward had his head in his hands after cutting inside and missing the target by a distance.

‘Listen, I think you’re going to see him in that position quite a lot this season and he knows he needs to do better there,’ ex-United and England defender said of Mbeumo’s wasted chance on MUTV.

‘You see him get on that left foot, with that much space, and he normally just curls that one in the bottom or top corner. But he was slightly off balance and it wasn’t quite meant to be.

‘I still don’t think he’s at his best and he caused a lot of problems today without maybe the end product, but still the assist was still there.

‘The end product is a little bit off but, again, he’s a brilliant signing for us and exactly what we needed.’

Brown was pleased with United’s all-round display, especially given the pressure and scrutiny Amorim’s players were under in the build-up.

‘I don’t think you could have asked for much more,’ he added.

‘When you go 2-0 up at half-time, you’re probably thinking that you’re going to get a couple more. But let’s be honest, there have been times when we’ve gone a couple up and then we’ve stepped off the gas in the second half.

‘I thought we were still pretty good in the second half but without that killer instinct.

‘But with the pressure the lads have been under this week and the new goalkeeper coming in, just before going into an international break, it was a good performance.’

Brown felt United’s defenders – and new signing Senne Lammens – deserved great credit after a ‘solid’ performance at the back helped Amorim’s men register their first clean sheet of the campaign.

‘Clean sheets are the most important thing as defenders and you can’t lose the game,’ the five-time Premier League winner continued.

‘I thought they were solid today. They would have come into this game with a little bit of pressure on their backs, but I thought every man did their job perfectly.

‘And then the ‘keeper comes in which adds maybe a bit more pressure before the game and he was excellent. When he needed to do stuff he did it very highly.

‘There was one incident when he came running out, but you could see he had a good spring, he did a couple of saves right, he came out to catch the ball when needed from a free-kick or cross and I think the manager will be very happy with his performance.

‘Very solid performance from everyone but we still maybe should have scored a few more.’

United know a tougher challenge likely awaits when they return to Premier League action away to the arch-rivals Liverpool in a fortnight’s time.

The reigning champions will have a point to prove at Anfield after suffering a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Chelsea to hand top spot to Arsenal heading into the international break.