Matheus Cunha will become the first Brazilian to play for Man United who has already played in the Premier League.
Cunha and Mbeumo came up against each other only last month
Cunha and Mbeumo came up against each other only last month
Manchester United hero Gary Pallister has tipped Matheus Cunha to "shake things up" at the club.
United signed Cunha from Wolves for £62.5million earlier this month after he scored 15 Premier League goals last season.
Cunha, 26, is set to slot in as one of the two playmakers in coach Ruben Amorim's 3-4-2-1 system, a set-up he regularly played in under Vitor Pereira at Wolves.
Former Atletico Madrid forward Cunha is the first Brazilian to join United who has already played in the Premier League. During Pallister's five seasons with United in the Premier League era, Sir Alex Ferguson recruited top flight-proven quality in Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham.
Cunha received two separate suspensions last season for a fracas after Wolves lost to Ipswich Town and a red card away to Bournemouth. But Pallister, a member of United's first two double-winning teams in 1994 and 1996, believes the current United squad needs "an edge".
"I think it's big," Pallister said of United bringing in a signing with Premier League experience. "I think you see a lot of foreign players coming in and I think that they’re taken aback with the pace and the physicality of the Premier League and it's not as physical as it used to be. So if you're already proven at that level in that environment, then I think it speaks volumes.
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"I like Cunha because I know he's got an edge to him. I like that in a player. I think managers like that as long as you can try and keep a lid on it most of the time, I don't think that's a bad thing and a little bit of edginess is maybe what the dressing room needs as well, a little bit of personality, a little bit of character.
"Bryan Mbeumo, we know what he's like but I don't know what he's like as a character. He seems quite calm and calculated but for Brentford he has been a real threat.
"I like seeing a bit of an edge, I think, in terms of real leaders in the squad at Manchester United, I'm not sure there's too many who've got that Roy Keane, Paul Ince, Steve Bruce, Bryan Robson edge. I like seeing somebody going in there to shake things up a little bit."
Mbeumo and Cunha both scored against United in defeats inflicted by Brentford and Wolves. Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo were both booked for fouling Cunha in the Boxing Day loss at Molineux and Pallister duelled with a number of future teammates during his playing career.
Keane gets a grip of Darren Ferguson at the City Ground in August 1992
Keane gets a grip of Darren Ferguson at the City Ground in August 1992
Ferguson consulted Pallister and his defensive partner Bruce on Cantona two-and-a-half months before his surprising move from Leeds United in November 1992. Keane came up against United a number of times with Nottingham Forest and made an impression on the squad.
"I remember back in the day after we won the title in '93, the first Premier League title," Pallister recalled. "I remember sitting in the back of the bus one day and he was chatting amongst probably half a dozen or eight of us in the back of the bus before we went back after a game and I think we'd already won the title. It might have been the Wimbledon game after we won the title.
"And he was saying on the bus if you could sign one player for next season, who would it be? And he was going around us individually and I think everybody said Roy Keane.
Cantona scored a hat-trick in the Charity Shield three months before he joined United
Cantona scored a hat-trick in the Charity Shield three months before he joined United
"That year, he had kicked everybody, and we played him in the League Cup final (in 1992) and he had a fight with every player on the pitch that day. But we loved that edge about him, he was that up for the fight. But he could play as well.
"I remember (Ferguson) asking about Eric Cantona and we told him what we thought and never thought anything of it until a few months later he was coming across the door."
Pallister has been a regular at Old Trafford for several years in his role as one of the club's ambassadors. He has been well-placed in the directors' box to assess Amorim during a tumultuous first six months in the dugout.
"I think everybody likes his personality," Pallister added, "likes the way he talks. His system's different for Manchester United and that's going to take time, I guess. How much time he’ll get, who knows.
Pallister won four titles, three FA Cups, the League Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup in nine years at United
Pallister won four titles, three FA Cups, the League Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup in nine years at United
"If it’s anywhere near the bottom after seven or eight games next year then people are probably going to start having a different conversation. But I like him. I think he's got a really good personality and he's promised to get it right.
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"I think the United faithful have got the faith in him and are sitting there waiting to see if he can do what he says and create a better Manchester United team that's got to be much better than it was last year.
"Maybe that brings a bit more pressure for him, but I certainly like the cut of his jib at the moment and hopefully he gets things right on the pitch, gets the players that he wants in there to suit his system and Manchester United can start looking like Manchester United again."