EXCLUSIVE: Man Utd face HUGE transfer test as Brentford make enormous Mbeumo demand

Manchester United have been told to pay €82 million (£70m) for Brentford attacker Bryan Mbeumo, having had a second bid for the Cameroon attacker rejected by their Premier League rivals.

Duncan Castles, speaking to the Transfers Podcast in conjunction with FootballTransfers, has revealed that Brentford are steadfastly sticking to the demand that they laid out to the Red Devils at the beginning of their negotiations.

Various outlets, including Sky Sports, have indicated that United’s improved offer of €73m (£62.5m) has been rejected by the Bees. Castles explained, however, that the London side want a good deal more before selling one of their prized assets.

“The guidance I have is that this is not the case. The current offer from Manchester United, the realistic value – i.e. the guaranteed fee plus the bonuses that could realistically be triggered over his career at the club – is over £60m.

“However, Brentford have had an asking price from the beginning that they want £70m guaranteed for the player. And so far they haven’t shifted from that line.”

Mbeumo has an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €58m, which is some way below the €82m figure that Brentford are demanding Man Utd pay.

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Bryan Mbeumo vs Matheus Cunha

Man Utd have only managed to get a deal for Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Matheus Cunha over the line so far this summer, but even this completed move is causing them issues, with Brentford holding the Brazil international in direct comparison to Mbeumo.

Castles explains: “They’ve highlighted that Mbeumo outperformed Matheus Cunha last season and pointed out that Manchester United paid over €75m or £62.5m to sign Cunha. And if you indeed compare the performance, Brentford aren’t wrong with that.

“They are also in a position where they do not have to sell. Mbeumo wants to go and United are confident they are his first choice.

“But there are other clubs in the Premier League looking for players in this position. Newcastle United are making offers in the position this week, Tottenham Hotspur want a right winger and obviously you have the relationship between Thomas Frank and Mbeumo.

“So Brentford are in a position where they can hold on. He’s got one year left on his contract and a single season deal – so they basically have got two years there on the deal.

“I think their stance is one in which they’re saying: ‘You pay us the right money, you get the player. But until you pay us the right money, you don’t.’

An examination of Man Utd’s transfer strategy

Castles warned that the hype that has been generated by this potential deal could become a problem for Man Utd given Brentford’s excellence at transfer negotiations.

“United have gone early on this and they’ve allowed a lot of press to build up around it. The idea is that Mbeumo definitely wants to go there,” he said.

“We’ll see how negotiations go, but Brentford have established themselves as a club that is not easily to deal with in the transfer market sense in that if you give them offers they don’t feel are correct, they will not go with them.

“They will sort out ways to achieve what they feel is the proper valuation of the player as they did when David Raya went to Arsenal. Raya only had a year left on his contract. As did Ivan Toney when they sold him to Saudi Arabia.

“So it’s an interesting test of where this new Manchester United recruitment team are in terms of picking up a player they’ve flagged up to be one of their top targets for Ruben Amorim’s rebuild.”