Manchester United v ACF Fiorentina - Pre-Season Friendly
Ruben Amorim’s side have spent big this summer (Picture: Getty)
Rene Meulensteen fears one Manchester United player will suffer under Ruben Amorim this season as a result of the club’s lavish summer spending.
After a dismal Premier League season, which saw them finish 15th, United have embarked on their latest rebuild in the summer transfer window.
The Red Devils made it a priority to refresh their attacking options and brought in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo to provide them with Premier League-proven quality.
On top of that, United edged out Newcastle for the signing of Benjamin Sesko, with the talented 22-year-old arriving to provide an immediate upgrade on Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee.
Those three deals, along with the signing of young defender Diego Leon, have brought United’s summer spending to almost £200m and there were positive signs from their opening league fixture against Arsenal on Sunday.
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But former Red Devils assistant manager Meulensteen fears that United’s summer business may ultimately be to the detriment of captain Bruno Fernandes, who was one of few players to impress last season.
The Portuguese international registered 18 goal contributions last season, but now looks likely to spend this season in a deeper role to make room for the slew of new attacking signings.
Manchester United v Everton FC: Premier League Summer Series
Rene Meulensteen fears Manchester United might not get the best out of Bruno Fernandes this season (Picture: Getty)
‘If Ruben Amorim definitely decides to play Bruno Fernandes deeper, 100% his stats would suffer, I think you’d be taking a massive weapon away,’ he told CoinPoker.
‘Look at last season and look at what he produced as a captain for Manchester United in the worst season ever. If you would have taken him away, can you imagine what would have happened then?
‘If you ask Fernandes and he will be all for it, the fact that Bryan Mbeumo has come in, Matheus Cunha has come in and Benjamin Sesko has come in.
‘So they have strength, but Bruno is the one, Bruno is one of the guys that can link with Sesko and release him. He’s got that vision and he’s got that passing range to do that, but he likes to operate further up the pitch because he’s got a great shot himself.
‘He’s got a great eye for goal and you don’t want to take that away. How he plans to solve that puzzle is going to be an interesting one because if you do drop him deeper, you lose a little bit up front but also you lose a little bit of defensive strength in the middle of the park because that’s not his strength.
Manchester United v ACF Fiorentina - Pre-Season Friendly
United have spent heavily on their forward line this summer (Picture: Getty)
‘That would all depend on who’s going to play next to him.’
Amorim, meanwhile, hinted that Mason Mount could also be deployed in a more reserved role if United don’t bring in another central midfielder before the close on the window.
‘I want Bruno near the ball, so that is really important for our team, but last year, sometimes I felt like I need Bruno near the goal,’ Amorim said.
‘We have now players with different characteristics that can cope with that so we will try to arrange game-by-game the players in the best position.’
On Mount he added: ‘Maybe Mason Mount is a player that can play in that position if we want something different.
‘But then we are going to find out during the season. But we have players to cope and win games in the Premier League.’
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