Relegation striker with £62.5 million is the first signing of Manchester United in the summer window?

Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Yan Yu

In the aftermath of the Champions League final, Manchester United's first signing this summer has been diluted a little. But if you think about it carefully, the total price of 62.5 million pounds, plus the legendary weekly salary of up to 200,000 pounds, this new Cunya is definitely not an ordinary person. In this regard, the Sun also played a title party, "his salary may rise to second place in the Red Devils." In fact, if Casemiro, B Fe and Rashford, who have transfer rumors, leave the team, Cunya will be able to rise from fourth place in the team to second only to Mount. Of course, it is a bit of a deliberate exaggeration to write this, but in any case, it is enough to highlight the special nature of this new player.

So the question is: What can the special Cunnia bring to Manchester United?

If we just interpret this introduction from the "literal meaning" - Manchester United bought the Wolves forward, it may suddenly make Hoylen's figure flash in our minds. Manchester United's poor record in the past season, and weak offense is one of the main drawbacks. It is well known to everyone that the center is not strong, so there is a lot of call for "changing centers", and some fans even think it is the top priority. But in fact, the earliest reinforcement was not entirely aimed at No. 9. Cunia is named forward and can also play center with a body of 1.84 meters, but the most suitable position is actually the "second forward" behind the center. Cunya also often moves on the left side. According to Opta statistics, he has been on the left side for 44% of the Premier League in the past two seasons. If you subdivided the position, this Brazilian attacker mainly attacked on the left side of the 3421 formation, that is, the left front midfielder in "2".

With these keywords, it is not difficult to find that Cunya seems to match Amorin's tactics: getting used to the three-center-back system, and is also a key figure in the "double front midfielder". In the past season, Manchester United's left front midfielder has options such as B Fee, Garnacho, Mount and Zilker. Some of them are not particularly suitable for this place, while others are not capable enough, and some of them may leave this summer. And now with Cunya, a familiar player, Amorin will have more possibilities to realize his ideas.

Regarding Cunya's talent, legendary Gary Neville once analyzed: "Manchester United needs a person who can defeat the opponent's defensive players, someone who can drive the ball and run and advance in the middle, and can support full-backs on the outside." When players like Sancho, Rashford and Anthony like to break through are destined to leave, and Garnacho is also extremely unreliable and will not stay. Manchester United will very much need Cunya's dribbling ability to "replace and upgrade."

"Cunha is willing to pull back sharply and then drive the ball forward. He understands the rhythm of the game, knows when to sprint forward and slow down, and is also very smart to pass. Manchester United needs his ability to control the game." This is the evaluation of the competitive network. It sounds like the Brazilian may become one of the new cores of the Red Devils. Unlike B's passing and guiding teammates, Cunha will charge more and create breakthroughs in person - in the past two seasons, he has contributed 7 and 6 assists in the Premier League, and his average dribbling data is 2 and 1.8.

In addition, this former Wolves No. 10 is good at breaking into the penalty area, and its ability to seize opportunities is also particularly worth mentioning. Although it seems that it is not very strong to score 29 goals in the Premier League in a total of 82 games, Cunha has made rapid progress in the two and a half years in the Premier League. He only had 2 goals in the first half of the season, and reached 12 goals in the 2023-24 season. This year, he even scored 15 goals and entered the top 10 of the Premier League scorers list, tied for 8th with Palmer. Although "data produced by weak teams" may not be very convincing, Cunya has another one very good one. According to Opta statistics, Cunha's "major opportunity conversion rate" in the Premier League in the past two quarters has reached 60%, which can be said to be a "good opportunity never missed". In this regard, Premier League famous scorers such as Palmer (53%), Isak (49%) and Salah (48%) are not as good as Brazilians.

Cunia has many advantages, but naturally has its shortcomings, including a hot temper that was once easy to win cards, and a more "casual" style is also the same. Sky Sports once commented that Cunia is the "Maverick" in the increasingly regular football sport. Correspondingly, it is a big question whether he can consistently help the team in an organized oppressive system like Amorin.

But then again, Manchester United's biggest problem is that the entire environment may be chaotic, and no matter how good the player is, he cannot turn the tide alone, so don't put too much hope on Cunha alone. There are also opinions that paying the Brazilian so early (although it is a three-term payment) can show Manchester United's positive attitude of strengthening and the club still has strong attractiveness, which will have a certain positive impact on the subsequent signing work.