'Rooney - wow!' Matheus Cunha opens up on childhood idolising Man Utd in first interview since completing £63m switch from Wolves

Cunha has given his first interview since joining United from Wolves for £62.5m ($85m) telling the club's official media how he used to support the Red Devils from his homeland of Brazil as a child. And he revealed that his favourite player was Wayne Rooney.

Cunha said: "It’s a funny story. Only in my grandma’s house could we watch the Premier League. My house didn't have the channel and my cousin’s house didn't have the channel. So we organised to go at the weekend to my grandma’s house to watch the Premier League. He’s older than me and he supports United and he showed me the way to start to watch the Premier League and that I needed to support United. And for me this club was always a bit inside of me. When I played with him in the street on the gravel pitch, we called these pitches Old Trafford. Imagine. So wow, it’s so hard to be here now and then thinking about the past is very emotional for me."

Cunha said that the player he liked the most back then was Rooney and claimed he sees similarities between himself and United's all-time top scorer. He added: "It’s always hard to talk about because I remember the whole squad at the time that I started to watch them. You know, in the front, Rooney — wow! Someone that I think I have a lot of similarities in my game, because I always give everything. I remember he was the No. 10 and everyone loved the skills of the player in this shirt, but he always brought more. He went to the grass to take the ball, this kind of energy inside of him was a big example."

Cunha was shown a video of him playing against United for Coritiba during the Dallas Cup, part of the club's pre-season tour of 2017. "This was when I was young the biggest game for me," he said. "How did you find this? This has made my day already. To be today here is really a dream."

The Red Devils are enjoying their summer break after their worst season in 51 years but they are planning a big summer in the transfer window. Ruben Amorim's side are working on deals for Bryan Mbeumo and Viktor Gyokeres to further boost their attack after signing Cunha while they will also be looking to offload plenty of players including Alejandro Garnacho, Antony, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford. United begin their pre-season campaign against Leeds on July 19 in Stockholm before embarking on a tour of the United States for a third consecutive year.