Mbeumo joins Man Utd in club-record sale
Agency:
Bryan Mbeumo has joined Manchester United on a permanent transfer, in what is a club-record sale for the Bees.
The forward leaves Brentford with 70 goals and 51 assists in 242 games. Only seven players in the club’s history have played more games and scored more goals than Mbeumo.
“On behalf of everyone at Brentford, I would like to wish Bryan all the best for the future and thank him for his fantastic efforts over six seasons with us,” said director of football Phil Giles.
“Bryan came to us as a teenager, and it has been an absolute pleasure for all of us here to watch him develop as a player and a person. Our fans have loved him, and he has been a part of some of our greatest days.
“There is always a right time for a player to move on and, for Bryan, that time is now. He has the opportunity to go to one of the biggest clubs in the world, and we are very happy for him.
“Bryan will always be welcome back at the Gtech. We look forward to seeing him in September and whenever our paths cross in the future.”
Mbeumo started his career with Troyes in his native France, making 89 appearances for the club’s first team and reserve team combined, latterly in Ligue 2.
He moved to England in August 2019, two days shy of his 20th birthday, to join Brentford on a five-year contract during the final season at Griffin Park.
He enjoyed a storming first season in England, scoring 16 goals and providing eight assists as he made up one-third of the fabled ‘BMW’ front three, which comprised of Saïd Benrahma, Mbeumo and Ollie Watkins.
Both Watkins and Benrahma left for pastures new after the Bees lost the Championship play-off final at Wembley in 2020, but Mbeumo remained and played a key role in promotion to the Premier League at the second time of asking with eight league goals and 12 assists.
In the club’s first season in the top flight, Mbeumo played 35 Premier League games in 2021/22, registering 11 goal contributions.
During the 2022/23 campaign, he featured in every one of Brentford’s league games, contributing greatly to a ninth-place finish.
The forward was then named in the Cameroon squad for the 2022 World Cup, where he started all three of their Group G matches.
Mbeumo made a typically impressive start to the 2023/24 term, with seven goals and three assists by the start of December, before an ankle injury that required surgery kept him out of action until the middle of March.
He returned to the starting line-up in April 2024, scoring two goals and assisting three more across the final seven games.