Bryan Mbeumo
Brentford, 2019-
Manchester United’s interest in signing Bryan Mbeumo has come after he took a leap forward with his goalscoring in the 2024/25 season. The Cameroon international not only hit double figures for the first time in the Premier League, but scored 20 in 38 games for Brentford. Only Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland scored more – which is quite some company to be keeping.
With Brentford striker Ivan Toney signing for Saudi side Al-Ahli in August 2024, Mbeumo stepped up to help his team challenge for European football. He also earned a Premier League Player of the Year nomination in what was his sixth season with the Bees, having signed from French club Troyes for £5.8m in 2019. Back then he was a 20-year-old who had worked his way up from the Troyes academy. Now he is reportedly on the brink of a move to Manchester United.
Below, our UEFA-licensed coaches have analysed Bryan Mbeumo’s game…
Technical analysis
Bryan Mbeumo is a left-footed attacking player, who has mostly been deployed on the right side. He has also played centrally, as either the main centre-forward, or as a supporting teammate just underneath a more prominent central-attacker operating on the last line. His roles have largely depended on Brentford’s formation. Within a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, he has operated wide right in a front three. Whereas in a 3-5-2 he has played in one of the two central-forward roles.
When attacking, Mbeumo has a fantastic ability to improve the position of the ball, in comparison to when and where he received it. This means he can create chances for teammates in a variety of ways. His detail of pass in the final third is very good, often with the correct weight and angle to match the forward run of a teammate (below).
Mbeumo can also spot passes in the final third for static teammates, who receive between or behind an opponent. He can disguise, reverse, dink or loft passes that break the opposing defence. In addition, his dead-ball delivery is fantastic, making him valuable to any side looking to exploit set pieces.
Penetrating the box
His dribbling and ball carrying are further examples of how he can work the ball into dangerous areas. As a powerful athlete, in larger spaces he can burst forward, even from a standing start. Unlike some wingers he isn’t one to twist and weave in and out of multiple defenders. But he can be physical when needed – hence why he can also play in a front two. He can pin and bump defenders to compete for attacking duels, such as knockdowns, or inaccurate, bobbling passes.
His ball-carrying ability means he can drive forward from deep, either instigating or contributing to a counter-attack over long distances. He can drive and carry the ball forward with momentum and purpose, rarely looking out of control. His ability to drive into the penalty area is also significant.
Even when attacking more of a set block, he regularly gets the ball into the penalty area. From there, his passing detail, vision and back-post crossing can create chances. He has likely benefitted from Brentford’s unique analysis and data department, with its focus on tweaking small details to improve chances of scoring.
There are times when Mbeumo can’t get into the box, because there is too much traffic or a defensive presence in the way. There are also occasions when a better, earlier pass or cross is available. In these situations he won’t force it, knowing his decision to release can still aid the attack without penetrating the box.
Goal threat
His goalscoring threat has improved, typically from cutting inside and bending the ball, or driving efforts into the far corner (below). He can also disguise and reverse efforts towards the near post after moving inwards. Indeed, when cutting in from the right, his timing to drop his shoulder and shoot has improved. As has his overall ability to shift and shoot around the legs of his direct opponent.
He has also scored goals by making aggressive central runs, starting from wide right and ending where a centre-forward would often score from. This is something that goalscoring wingers like Salah and Cristiano Ronaldo have demonstrated – initially attacking out wide, but often ending as a striker to score. Mbeumo’s occasional outings as a central forward over the years should have helped him in this regard.
Out of possession
Without the ball, Mbeumo is a good presser, often positioning himself to perform multiple roles and tasks simultaneously (below). He prefers pressing and defending towards the touchline, working from in to out. He curves his individual-press well, efficiently locking the play wide, while cutting off potentially damaging passing lanes. His clever positioning prevents him giving away big spaces on his inside shoulder. This means that he occasionally intercepts attempted reverse passes, or balls played into central midfield. Although this doesn’t happen often, that is largely because his defensive positioning is well prepared so that most opponents don’t attempt this pass. When it is attempted, Mbeumo can intercept and initiate counters.
Overall he duels well for possession and is especially strong when tackling opponents who are dribbling. This is possible because he is a strong dribbler himself, and can read and predict triggers and cues. Additionally, his low centre of gravity enables him to shift his feet and poke, prod or pinch the ball, or tackle his opponent. He also works hard to recover back and track forward runs inside his own half from opposing full-backs. But he is more suited to a high-pressing team that looks to defend inside the opposition's half as long as possible.
Right winger
For the majority of his time with Brentford, Mbeumo has attacked as a right winger. In the 2024/25 season, he provided the sixth-most crosses in the Premier League. Brentford’s head coach between 2018 and 2025, Thomas Frank utilised a 4-2-3-1 and occasionally a 4-4-2. When attacking from wide right in Frank’s teams, Mbeumo looked to cut inside and shoot, combine, create or cross. His deliveries – bending and dropping towards the back-post space (below) – provided opportunities to finish, or pass back across for a teammate to finish in the next phase. Brentford’s idea was to increase the likelihood of scoring by making the extra pass when needed, which helped Mbeumo’s deliveries to be even more purposeful.
His lower, whipped deliveries – often still aiming for the back post – have enabled teammates to run across and finish with deft touches. Under Frank, Brentford had a fantastic ability to get numbers within the width of the opposition goal. Centre-forward Yoane Wissa, opposite winger Kevin Schade and central-midfielders flooded the box, providing plenty of targets for Mbeumo.
By cutting inside before playing in-swinging crosses, Mbeumo has also created dangerous shooting opportunities for himself. His movement inwards with the ball has often been supported by midfielders Mikkel Damsgaard and Christian Norgaard. When Mbeumo can’t penetrate the box or create a chance directly himself, he has used those inside to combine with and progress the ball. From here, his penetrative movements into the box get him into scoring positions – many of his goals have come after receiving the ball back, inside the box and slightly off centre. Readjusting his position more often in the 2024/25 season put him in good positions to score.
Centre-forward
In previous seasons at Brentford, Frank utilised a 3-5-2 shape. In this system he played Mbeumo in a central-forward role, as opposed to wing-back. Playing with Ivan Toney, Mbeumo was versatile with his movement, dropping underneath to receive sets from his attacking partner, as well as running beyond when Toney flicked the ball on (below). Toney had a strong aerial presence and was very good at holding the ball up, linking counter-attacks and occupying imposing centre-backs. Mbeumo, in turn, provided secondary support however he could.
He also drifted away from Toney at times to end up in the right inside channel. In doing so, he could drag a centre-back with him, allowing Toney to isolate his opponent. The right inside channel is almost exactly the same space that Mbeumo has attacked when moving inside as a right winger. As one of the front two, though, he simply moved into it a different way. His movement meant he could link with the advancing right wing-back – either Aaron Hickey or Mads Roerslev. Mbeumo also occasionally became a secondary aerial target for more direct passes, which he competed for well.
In this central role his crossing output was naturally less frequent. Meanwhile, he adapted his link-up play and penetrative through passes, facing away from goal to wait for support from deep – usually overlapping runs on the outside.
Defensively, his primary responsibility was to press in central areas, defending wide when needed. He worked on to the centre-backs and goalkeeper, often being the one to jump and instigate the press.
Whether moving to Manchester United or staying at Brentford, he will be playing for a new head coach one way or another, following Frank’s move to Tottenham. And he will be keen to build on such a personally successful 2024/25 campaign.
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