Ruben Amorim says Matheus Cunha shows 'what we need' after Manchester United held by Leeds | OneFootball

The Red Devils boss liked what he saw from his latest summer signing

The 26-year-old Brazilian started on the left side of an attacking midfield duo with youngster Toby Collyer - a likely placeholder for the incoming Bryan Mbeumo - in Amorim’s typical 3-4-2-1 system, with Bruno Fernandes dropping back into a midfield pivot alongside Casemiro from kick-off.

But the Portuguese remained optimistic, adding: “We create chances. I think Matheus Cunha showed what we need; that he's the player when he receives the ball between the lines, he can be really aggressive in the direction of the opponent.”

Amorim acknowledged that his team have “a lot to do” and that United must improve their quality in the final third following a “big test” against Daniel Farke’s Championship-winning side. Leeds handed debuts to several new players of their own, including Jaka Bijol, Lukas Nmecha, Sebastiaan Bournauw, Sean Longstaff, and Gabriel Gudmundsson.

The United head coach expressed confidence in the partnerships that he believes Cunha will form with his new teammates before the 2025-26 campaign gets properly underway.

"We watched [Cunha] during last season in a different team, so we expect the same thing,” he continued.

“You can see the connection between him and Bruno [Fernandes] is still not there, but it's going to be a good connection because you can put a player like Kobbie Mainoo there, Mason Mount there.

“We need to build that bond between everybody. There's a lot to improve. The speed of our game, all the details. But we’ll get there.”

With Cameroon star Mbeumo yet to officially complete his move from Brentford, pending a medical scheduled to take place over the weekend, the only other debutant for United on Saturday was 18-year-old left-back Diego Leon.

The young Paraguayan started the match as a left wing-back and endured a testing first half as the target of several Leeds attacks before being replaced as part of wholesale changes at half-time.

Discussing Leon’s first appearance, Amorim said: "We have to understand that the kid came from Paraguay and it's his second week [at] Manchester United.

“He did really well, he's learning things, he's powerful. He's going to be a very good player."

The question of who plays behind Cunha and presumed attacking partner Mbeumo will, however, remain a key one. So too will the issue of where club captain Fernandes should be deployed in Amorim’s system, given he may have been shunted out of the dual No10 slots by this summer’s big-money arrivals.

A lack of strong links to new central midfielders - if some combination of Mainoo, Manuel Ugarte, Fernandes and Casemiro are not trusted to be the answer there - may worry fans in the red half of Manchester, as well as the lack of movement on a new striker.

Perhaps the departures of some wantaway stars will soon clear room at the Old Trafford negotiating table for those discussions to happen.