Manchester United might be forgiven for thinking at this point that Bryan Mbeumo doesn’t exist; he’s simply a fabricated name, a figment of their imagination.
A deal that picked up pace almost a month ago has since crawled, halted, started again, and is dawdling along now as Man Utd are close to returning from pre-season.
Brentford have always been tough negotiators, but nobody thought it would take a month and two transfer bids for United to come back to where they started – an interested player and no agreement with the club.
It looked like an agreement would be close with the second bid, but it was rejected. And what Brentford are doing now, ahead of a potential third bid, should have Man Utd preparing to do the unthinkable.
Thomas Frank, Manager of Brentford, and Bryan Mbeumo of Brentford acknowledge the fans after the draw in the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion FC and Brentford FC at Amex Stadium on December 27, 2024
Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images
Brentford’s latest stance on Bryan Mbeumo transfer
Nobody expected Brentford to make it easy for Man Utd when the player in question gave them 20 Premier League goals last season.
They’ve already lost their head coach, their first-choice goalkeeper, and their captain, so Bryan Mbeumo, as the crown jewel, was invaluable.
United recognised this and accepted Brentford’s demands to a large extent, matching the price for Matheus Cunha for the second bid.
Even rejecting that was somewhat understandable, since Brentford wanted more up front, but their latest stance on Mbeumo should be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
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The Athletic report that Brentford have now slapped a price tag of £70m on Mbeumo, courtesy of an imaginary bid from Spurs of that amount, which, as per The Athletic, never came.
Athletic’s correspondent Laurie Whitwell said: “Brentford were pitching for a higher fee than Cunha, given Mbeumo’s stats. There’s obviously this idea that Spurs had made a bid of £70 million and that’s being used by Brentford as a gauge, but Spurs are denying to me and other people that they’ve made a bid.”
Man Utd need to call Brentford’s bluff
Until now, United and the fans thought Brentford were just being hard negotiators, which was fair game in the market.
However, this development should be seen by United as being in bad faith, and if true, the club need to call Brentford’s bluff and throw the ball in Mbeumo’s court.
They walked away from Branthwaite last summer in an effort to tackle “United tax”, and acquiescing to Brentford’s bad faith negotiations for Mbeumo would set the club back.
United need to do the unthinkable and threaten to walk away, communicating the same to Mbeumo so he can make it clear to Brentford that he wants to leave.
They can’t get stuck in a sunk-cost fallacy, investing more time, effort, and money into a deal where the opposite party has no intention of matching United’s step forward.
United have already taken multiple leaps forward from their original stance; now, it should be left to Mbeumo to move it along by forcing Brentford’s hand.