Written for Gameweek 8. Its deadline has passed. Read the newest: Gabriel scores 17 as João Pedro misses out and Fernandes stays on the bench
FPL Tilt · Team talk · Transfers · Gameweek 8
Mbeumo is leading United's attack, and fewer than one in five managers own him
Be the first to comment ↓More than a million managers have sold Mbeumo since August. He is leading Manchester United's attack, getting better chances than in his 20-goal season, and Bournemouth come to Old Trafford next.
At Elland Road on Sunday, Bryan Mbeumo was left unmarked for a Youri Tielemans cross and headed it wide. Eight minutes later Tielemans found him again. This time Mbeumo beat James Justin and put it low past James Trafford.
It was his fourth league goal of the season, for a Manchester United side that has not won in the league since August. Over the same weeks more than a million managers have taken him out of their teams. He was in 3.5 million for Gameweek 2 and is in 2.2 million now.
What they let go is the player leading United's attack. On the evidence, he is also the most underrated midfielder in FPL.
Where United's chances go
Benjamin Šeško has been out with a shin injury since September, and Michael Carrick has no date for his return. Mbeumo has led the line in his place, and the Premier League's own analysis this week found that he has had half of United's big chances. In a side short of ideas, the ones it has end with him.
It also changes how his Brentford season looks. This season his chances are worth more than half a goal a game. In 2024-25, when he scored 20 league goals for Brentford, they were worth a third of one.
So the 20-goal season came from fewer chances a game than he is getting now. Last season at United he scored 11 from chances worth about 12, which was not a decline. It was a forward finishing at his usual rate after a year in which far more went in than his chances suggested.
Four goals, four different ones
Against Ipswich, Bruno Fernandes put him through and he looped it in off the underside of the bar. At Everton he cut in from the right, went past two defenders and curled it low into the bottom corner, a minute after half-time.
Against Tottenham he combined with Matheus Cunha in the box, turned and drove it low across Antonín Kinský. Opta counted it as his seventh Premier League goal against Spurs in ten games, more than he has scored against anyone. Leeds was the fourth, and the one that only came at the second time of asking.
Why it might not last
United are the strongest argument against him. Before Sunday, the Premier League's analysis had them converting 7.2% of their shots, the fourth-worst rate in the league. They have scored ten times in seven games. Fernandes takes their penalties. Nobody knows yet how Mbeumo's job changes when Šeško is fit.
Nor is he the busiest attacking midfielder in the game. Bukayo Saka is involved in slightly more chances a game and has fewer owners, but he costs £1.8m more and has four points fewer.
Bournemouth, next Sunday
United play Bournemouth at Old Trafford in Gameweek 8. Bournemouth have let in 13 in seven league games, and their one clean sheet came on Sunday against a Sunderland side down to ten men from the 17th minute.
Marcus Tavernier will be on the other side. He has a point more than Mbeumo for £1.7m less and is in fewer than one in ten teams, which makes him the better buy if the budget is tight.
Saka is a little busier and Tavernier is cheaper. Neither of them is leading a line, and neither is carrying a team the way Mbeumo is carrying United. For a manager with £7.8m to spend, he is the player most of the game has walked past.
The Gameweek 8 deadline has passed.
Mbeumo's goals and chances in each match are from Sky Sports, the Press Association via ESPN, Opta Analyst and ESPN's match reports. His share of United's big chances and United's shot conversion are from the Premier League's analysis of 15 October 2026. Šeško's injury is from ESPN. Points, goals, prices, ownership, the number of teams he is in and expected goals by season are Fantasy Premier League's, read on 18 October 2026 after all of Sunday's matches.
Figures read on 18 October 2026. Players shows today's figures.