Ruben Amorim speaks with Francisco Trincao during their time together at Sporting CP
Ruben Amorim speaks with Francisco Trincao during their time together at Sporting CP
Manchester United remain determined to sign Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo this summer but a move to Old Trafford is by no means certain.
The 25-year-old is United's top target as Ruben Amorim looks to sign another player to play alongside new signing Matheus Cunha in the two attacking midfield positions in his 3-4-2-1 formation.
United submitted an opening offer of £45million with a further £10million in add-ons for Mbeumo, but it fell short of Brentford’s valuation and talks are continuing between the clubs.
Mbeumo is thought to be keen to join United but until the two clubs reach an agreement his desire to move to Old Trafford remains immaterial.
United would like to wrap up a deal for Mbeumo as soon as possible so he can report for the start of pre-season at Carrington in July.
But Tottenham are also interested in the Cameroon international and his relationship with his former Bees manager Thomas Frank, who has just been appointed as Spurs boss, could prove to be a crucial bargaining chip in their pursuit of the 20-goal forward.
Should United be forced to look elsewhere, then they might look at a player Amorim knows very well from his time as Sporting CP manager.
Using DataMB's player similarity generator tool to bring up players with similar characteristics to Mbeumo, one of the five names to emerge was Sporting star Francisco Trincao.
The Portuguese international was considered one of the brightest young talents in world football when he made the switch from Braga to Barcelona in the summer of 2020.
However, he never really managed to break into the first team and after a loan spell with Wolves, he returned to Portugal to sign for Sporting in the summer of 2022.
There he worked under Amorim for the first time and the United boss managed to tap into the potential that saw Barcelona make their move for the 25-year-old.
Rui Santos, former youth academy co-ordinator at Braga, worked with Trincao at the Portuguese club and explained how Amorim managed to rekindle Trincao's talents in the Portuguese capital.
“We know that Ruben Amorim is a great coach and a great trainer of athletes who have excelled at Sporting. At a time when Francisco Trincão was being criticised, the coach never stopped believing in him. He always supported him,” Santos said.
“In this case, Ruben Amorim was one of the pillars of Trincão’s success. In the past, many people had doubts and now everyone is certain.
“Their rivals in Manchester, and obviously Sporting being a big club, are two of the great giants of football. Furthermore, United has one of Trincão’s ‘fathers’, Ruben Amorim, who has always believed in him. When an athlete is going to take on new projects, he cannot leave aside the financial aspect, but he also has to think about the next step.
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“At Sporting he is having a fabulous return, but here everything is aligned because, in addition to the financial aspect, we have a very important part: working with someone who believed in him when everyone else doubted him.
“Manchester United, Premier League… The Theatre of Dreams came together with the technical team that always believed in him.”
This season saw Trincao score nine goals and register 11 assists in all competitions as Sporting won a domestic double of the league and cup in Portugal.
Trincao is said to have a £50million release clause in his contract, which has two years left to run at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, and shares an agent with United stars Leny Yoro and Manuel Ugarte.
United have done business with his people before and given Amorim's relationship with the player, as well as his impressive goal contribution statistics, they could do far worse than target a move for him as an alternative to Mbeumo.