Bryan Mbeumo endorses Man Utd’s transfer move for £60m former Arsenal target

Summer signing Bryan Mbeumo has endorsed Manchester United’s move for Aston Villa and England striker Ollie Watkins.

United have placed Watkins, 29, at the top of their list of targets should they decide to sign a new striker before the summer transfer window shuts.

Ruben Amorim was keen to bring his former Sporting player Viktor Gyokeres to Old Trafford but the Sweden international rejected Manchester United in favour of a £64m move to Arsenal.

Despite that transfer blow, United are still interested in signing a new No. 9 following Rasmus Hojlund’s struggles last season.

BBC Sport say Watkins and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko are at the forefront of Manchester United’s mind as they consider a move for a Gyokeres alternative.

Watkins has scored 75 goals in 184 Premier League games for Aston Villa, including 35 over the past two seasons.

The England regular was the subject of a £40m bid from Arsenal in January and Aston Villa are believed to want around £60m to sell him this summer.

Mbeumo played with Watkins while they were both at Brentford and has described United’s transfer target as a ‘complete striker’.

‘Ollie is a complete striker, he can do a lot of things,’ Mbeumo told Old Trafford legend Rio Ferdinand on his YouTube channel. ‘He can drop to be available or go in behind.

‘That is really good for me as a winger because you can use his pace to fit in there. Plus he can combine as well. It’s really good.’ 

Mbeumo completed a £65m move from Brentford earlier this month, signing a five-year contract at the Theatre of Dreams.

‘You want to play on the greatest stages in the world. And Old Trafford is one of them,’ he said of his move to United, who finished just 15th in the Premier League last season.

‘So being able to play here every two weeks is just big.  When I spoke properly with the gaffer, he said “we are people who like winning, and we want to be the best team”, and of course that’s what we will try to do.

‘We had a very friendly and constructive conversation. He explained his project to me, what he wanted to do and I really clicked on that.

‘I’m someone who likes a challenge. As a forward, you always want to make an imprint in the game, helping people to score or scoring yourself.

‘I always want to be better than I was yesterday. I’m very demanding of myself and try to do my best. I don’t like to put limits on myself.’

Rio Ferdinand backs Man Utd to sign Ollie Watkins

Like Mbeumo, Ferdinand has also endorsed Manchester United’s pursuit of Watkins, who has 18 caps for England.

‘I’m greedy, I think we need a centre forward,’ Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel.

‘We need someone with experience who the other centre forwards look at and go, ‘that’s a bit of me’, without any doubts.

‘Ollie Watkins says that, Premier League proven, played in the Champions League last year as well, has done his thing consistently for a while, international, plays for England as well. He ticks all the boxes.

‘Victor Osimhen was obviously my first pick, that’s an old broken record that’s not going to materialise. But if you’re looking at it now I would go Ollie Watkins if you get him at the right price.

‘He’s 29 years old, there’s no sell-on value, it’s purely to have an impact immediately over the next two or three years which I think Ollie Watkins can have in a good way on the centre forwards who are there. He would be great right now as well.

‘That front three if you played Ollie Watkins, [Bryan] Mbeumo, [Matheus] Cunha and you can mix that in with Amad, [Mason] Mount, whoever, that’s a hard day’s work for opposing defence on most days.’

Manchester United play three more pre-season friendlies before beginning their 2025-26 Premier League campaign on August 17 against Arsenal.

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