Manchester United were dealt a cruel injury setback during Saturday's Premier League match against Burnley when Matheus Cunha was forced off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury. The £62.5million Brazilian summer signing managed less than half an hour of the Old Trafford clash and Ruben Amorim was shown with his head in his hands after Cunha, who had been playing well, fell to the turf in obvious discomfort. The Portuguese coach will be desperately hoping the problem is not a serious one.
Just moments after United took the lead against the newly-promoted Clarets, Cunha experienced an issue following a sprint. He immediately headed for the tunnel, without even receiving treatment from the physio before leaving the pitch. His sudden departure seemed to take United manager Amorim by surprise, as there wasn't a substitute prepared to step in for the ex-Wolves striker. Eventually, Joshua Zirkzee was brought into the action.
The only silver lining for United is that they're heading into an international break, and won't have another match for two weeks. On the downside, their next fixture is a Manchester derby against City at the Etihad.
Despite United's struggles to kickstart their season, including a humiliating defeat to Grimsby in the Carabao Cup, Cunha has begun to find his feet and make his mark. Given the No.10 shirt at the club, he's expected to establish himself as one of Amorim's dual No. 10s in his preferred 3-4-2-1 formation, but has primarily been serving as the main focus of the club's attack since his arrival.
Despite not having scored yet, there have been flashes of the brilliance that made him a favourite at Molineux and one of the Premier League's standout attackers last season - ultimately convincing United to fork out the cash to bring him to Old Trafford.
United led 1-0 at half-time courtesy of a Josh Cullen own goal, with the opener coming shortly before Cunha was forced to leave the pitch.
Amorim had been full of praise for Cunha earlier this month, saying: "He's a loud guy that's really important in this moment. When he's upset, you can feel it in the environment and that's good.
"When you play some games and he loses, he's a different guy, and that’s good. He has some characteristics that we miss last season, so I'm really happy with him and the other guys.
"I think they [the fans] deserve to have guys like Matheus and Bruno [Mbeumo] and all these guys that can lift that place and so we expect to do that."