Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim believes summer arrivals Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo will be “so much better” alongside Benjamin Sesko.
The newly-signed attacking trio, together with teenaged left-back Diego Leon, were paraded in front of the Old Trafford faithful for the first time on Saturday ahead of the Red Devils’ final pre-season outing against Fiorentina.
Cunha and Mbeumo started the match as Amorim’s dual No10s, the positions they are most likely to occupy on a regular basis, and were unable to find a winner for their new side - but not for lack of trying.
Mbeumo, tasked with set pieces duties on several occasions, whipped in some threatening deliveries that nearly provoked goals from United’s towering centre-back trio of Harry Maguire, Ayden Heaven and Leny Yoro, while Cunha grew into the game after a quieter opening half to test Fiorentina’s backline in the closing stages.
Even with those promising signs, Amorim believes his new stars have much more to give.
“They are maybe 50-60% of what they can do,” the United manager said post-match. “I think, like any other team, we are going to improve during the season, and they are going to be so much better.”
Some of that, the Portuguese hopes, will come from his side’s latest pick-up, who was officially announced as a Red Devil in the hours leading up to kick-off on Saturday.
“In some moments I felt because of the 1v1s that we struggled without a reference as a striker but we have a new player, so we’ll see,” Amorim added of incoming striker Sesko.
Speaking about the 22-year-old Slovenian before the match, United’s head coach suggested he has no fears about the player settling in quickly.
"He has the characteristics that we needed," Amorim said. "Ben is a player that, with all the information that we have, we need to stop the guy from working, not the opposite!
He continued: "He's really young, he's good in the air, he's good at running the channels, good on the ball. I think he has great potential. I think he can improve a lot and, for sure, he is going to feel at home in our club. He has the right character to be in this group, so I'm really happy to have him."
Starting in Sesko’s place on Saturday was not previous first-choice striker Rasmus Hojlund, who remained an unused substitute amid rumours of an imminent loan move, nor versatile forward Joshua Zirkzee, who is still side-lined through injury along with goalkeeper Andre Onana and defenders Noussair Mazraoui and Lisandro Martinez.
Instead, Mason Mount was a surprise selection as a make-shift centre-forward in United’s 3-4-2-1. That’s far from the former Chelsea man’s usual position as a central attacking midfielder, but Mount nonetheless impressed both his fans - who gave the 26-year-old a warm applause upon his late withdrawal - and his manager.
“It’s unbelievable the way he works, moving all the time from positions. He knows all the positions,” Amorim said of the England international, who was a constant pressing nuisance to Fiorentina out of possession and finished with 37 touches - four in the Serie A side’s penalty box - and 32 passes.
On whether Mount’s pre-season performances have given him a selection headache heading into next weekend’s Premier League curtain-raiser at home against Arsenal, the Portuguese head coach was less committal.
“It’s a good thing,” Amorim said of having to decide which players have done enough to make his starting line-up. “It’s supposed to be like that, not struggling to put 11 players on the pitch like last season.
“They need to fight during the week so they can change my mind. I have one idea, but they can change my mind during the week.”
