Bryan Mbeumo will head to AFCON this month (Image: Getty Images)
Ruben Amorim has revealed Manchester United are continuing discussions to retain Bryan Mbeumo, Amad and Noussair Mazraoui for their clash with Bournemouth before the trio depart for Africa Cup of Nations duty. The three players featured in United's commanding 4-1 triumph over Wolves on Monday evening, though doubt lingers over whether they'll be available for next week's Bournemouth fixture.
Amorim had earlier disclosed that the club were negotiating with the players' national associations to postpone their international call-ups, and was pressed for an update following the Wolves victory. However, the United manager couldn't provide a concrete answer. "The club is talking with the national teams," he said. "Let's wait for the middle of the week. I don't know for sure, but we are doing our job and the national teams are talking with us and that is a good sign."
Mbeumo found the net early in the second period against Wolves to put United back in front. Amorim was satisfied with how his side responded after shipping a goal just before the interval.
He said: "Once again, after we scored a goal, we were a little bit sloppy on the ball, and that gave a little bit of hope to the opponent, but we created a lot of chances in the first half also.
"We should have finished that half in the different way. And then in the half-time, they understood that we have everything to win the game, to win three points. And they did that.
"I think the pace, the quality that we showed in the second half, understanding that the moment of Wolves is really hard as a team, as a club. So we took advantage of that."
United have now climbed to sixth place in the Premier League standings. "First of all, I think in the league that is really hard to win every week, and you can sense that by watching the table," Amorim said.
"Then this is a specific case we face a team that is really, really struggling and you can sense in every situation of the game. So the next game is going to be completely different.
"So we need to to know that, but in our club, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter the run that you have, the moment, if you play quite well the last game, what matters is the way we are going to play the next one.
"Let's focus on that. We need to to improve the way we play. I think we need to find a different way to play sometimes. So we are thinking about that. We are working on that. And Bournemouth is going to be a different world."