Walcott claims Arsenal should have signed ‘incredible’ Man Utd star ‘many years ago’ | OneFootball

Former Arsenal winger Theo Walcott reckons the Gunners should’ve signed Man Utd summer signing Bryan Mbeumo “many years ago”.

Man Utd signed the Cameroon international from Premier League rivals Brentford in the summer transfer window for a fee of £71m, as the Red Devils spent over £200m on new signings.

Mbeumo has been the most impressive of the new signings so far with the 26-year-old contributing five goals and one assist in ten matches in all competitions.

The Cameroonian has particularly caught the eye in their last two matches as Man Utd have beaten Liverpool 2-1 and Brighton 4-2 in the Premier League.

Mbeumo scored once against the Reds and twice against the Seagulls as he showed the type of form which tempted Man Utd to spend a huge amount of money on him.

And Walcott reckons Arsenal should have bought Mbeumo “many years ago” with the former Brentford star “built for Premier League football”.

After watching Mbeumo against Brighton, Walcott said on It’s Called Soccer: “The team are understanding the way to play in his system now.

“When you have three at the back, you always have to have one of the centre-backs coming out into the midfield to be a third midfielder.

“Luke Shaw is that man doing that because he’s the one out of all the players that you trust to be able to cover as well.

“They need that if Bruno [Fernandes] and Cunha are going to work in the same team because I wasn’t so sure if they could really operate in the same team. It felt like two players that want to be in the same positions.

“However, once you get players who can step out, be confident and have that trust behind them, that’s no problem and this system works.”

Fellow summer signing Matheus Cunha also played well against Brighton and Walcott reckons Man Utd are benefitting from the Brazilian and Mbeumo playing in the Premier League before,

Former Arsenal winger Walcott added: “You have Cunha coming back and defending as well and Mbeumo who I think is outstanding.

“You look at players away from the Premier League who come into the Premier League, they take time. These guys [like Mbeumo] were built for Premier League football.

“I think Mbeumo has been incredible and he’s a player Arsenal should have bought many years ago.”

Walcott insists it’s “better for the league” when Man Utd perform well, he continued: “This United team are so confident. I got it so wrong, I thought it was going to be a typical United performance [against Brighton].

“However, they are starting to click and they’re missing quite a lot of players still which is worrying.

“We want to see United challenge, we do, it’s better for the league, it’s better for everyone and they’re exciting to watch now.”