Bryan Mbeumo has hit the buffers - so should Man Utd be worried by £65m signing's lack of goals?

Mbeumo joined United having scored 20 league goals the previous season for the Bees, a tally no Red Devils player had hit since Robin van Persie during Sir Alex Ferguson’s final campaign in 2012-2013. Part of Mbeumo's appeal was his proven record in the Premier League, which contrasted with Rasmus Hojlund when he had joined the club in 2023 and subsequently struggled, and with fellow new arrival Benjamin Sesko.

And that bet on experience paid early dividends as Mbeumo scored six goals in his first four months at the club, including a strike in United's first win at Anfield in 10 seasons and a double a week later against Brighton which sealed three successive league victories for the first time in more than a year.

After that 4-2 win over Brighton, Mbeumo was hailed by The Telegraph as the best signing of the season so far, and it was difficult to disagree. Dubbed a "working machine" by then-coach Ruben Amorim, Mbeumo transformed United’s attack, acting both as a focal point who could feed off long balls and an explosive runner, able race in behind defences to meet through-balls and score from them.

Mbeumo's progress was disrupted by him going to the Africa Cup of Nations in December, and while he was away, Amorim was sacked, meaning he had to start all over again under Carrick.

That news could not have been easy for Mbeumo to digest given Amorim had helped get the best out of him, and he was suddenly tasked with mastering a new position, that of a centre-forward rather than one of the so-called narrow No.10s in the Portuguese's much-maligned 3-4-2-1 formation.

And yet the transition could not have been smoother, as it was Mbeumo who scored the first goal of the Carrick era in January's impressive 2-0 win over Manchester City. He followed that up by netting the equaliser in the thrilling 3-2 win at Arsenal as United became the first team this season to win at the Emirates Stadium, and Mbeumo made it three goals in four games by firing in the opener in the 2-0 victory over Tottenham.

But that strike against Spurs has proven to be Mbeumo's most recent goal in a United shirt. He has failed to score in his last eight games, seven of which were starts. He did provide assists for Sesko against West Ham and Everton, but he has not contributed to a goal in any of his last six appearances.

The lack of attacking output is not the only issue, either. Mbeumo produced an absolute stinker of a performance in the embarrassing 2-1 defeat at Newcastle to 10 men, blazing over the bar with the goal gaping in his only attempt of the evening.

He managed zero shots on goal in the 2-2 draw at Bournemouth, with his only effort blocked, and it was the same story when United came from behind to beat Crystal Palace. Mbeumo then failed to have a single shot on goal against Chelsea last Saturday, although he was not the only one, as Matheus Cunha decided the scrappy 1-0 win with the visitors' only shot on target.

Mbeumo's drop in form has not affected United’s results too much, as they have won eight out of 12 games since Carrick succeeded Amorim, although it is just four wins out of eight since Mbeumo last scored. The Red Devils go into Monday's game against Brentford with an eight-point cushion over sixth-placed Brighton in their bid to finish in the top five and qualify for the Champions League, and they could practically seal their season objective if they overcome Keith Andrews' side at Old Trafford.

But Mbeumo's claim to being the Premier League's best signing of last summer has faded rapidly, and he is even struggling to cling on to that title at United. Senne Lammens surely deserves that particular award, especially when you consider he was a relative unknown when he arrived from Royal Antwerp at the cost of only £18m.

Mbeumo might not even be the best attacker United signed in the summer, as Sesko has caught him up as the club's joint-top scorer, netting four times since Mbeumo's last goal, and that is despite only starting half of the games.

Carrick's indecision as to who should be the central striker is part of the problem. Mbeumo has been less effective since starting alongside Sesko, failing to muster any shots in those four games when he has been deployed on the right wing. That is a very different role to the one he played under Amorim, when he worked up an excellent relationship with wing-back Amad Diallo.

That friendship, however, has turned into a rivalry for the right-wing spot, with Amad impressing when he came off the bench against Chelsea after being United's best attacker when he started in the home defeat to Leeds, a game Mbeumo began as a substitute as he was recovering from a knock.

It is clear that Mbeumo is under huge pressure to recapture his form from earlier in the season, and he cannot afford for his goal drought to endure until the end of the season. If he does not rediscover his goal-scoring touch in United's final five games, he will finish the season with fewer goals than Hojlund did in his debut campaign, and will be on the same worrying path the Dane never recovered from.

Mbeumo needs to follow his own mantra and be a lot better than he was yesterday or else his dream move to United could end earlier than expected.