United's fresh approach to fixing goalscoring woes

Manchester United were not merely outscored by 15 other clubs in the Premier League last season. They were outscored as a team, and amassing the combined efforts of the 31 players who took the field in the division for them, plus the two opponents who donated own goals by a trio who could have formed their new front three.

- RICHARD JOLLY

United got 44 goals. Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Liam Delap got 47 between them. Cunha has already joined United.

Delap definitely won't; they always thought Chelsea was a likelier destination and so it proved. But if the much-coveted Delap's preference was for Stamford Bridge, Mbeumo, who has a similarly large group of admirers, has his heart set on Old Trafford. A second bid of around £60m has been made. He is likely to join Cunha in a forward line Ruben Amorim has acquired more than inherited.

It could suggest a level of logic has been applied to United's summer rebuilding. What did they lack? Goals. Who are they signing? Goalscorers. Mbeumo's tally of 20 put him fourth behind only three players who are beyond United's reach. Cunha's total of 15 left him tied for eighth and none of the seven to muster more would prefer to play as a left-sided No 10. Delap's 12 gave him a share of 14th place, but no one scored as many for a relegated team and by getting one-third of Ipswich's goals, it meant only Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak and Chris Wood had a fractionally higher share of any team's output.

None of which represents a guarantee of success at United. The Theatre of Dreams has been a graveyard of careers for too many. But a recruitment drive has a sound grounding in Amorim's tactics - Delap a natural front-runner, Cunha suited and qualified for the role in his slipstream and to his left, and Mbeumo, from his time on the right of Brentford's 4-3-3 or 4-23-1 systems, probably able to slip infield a little in the Portuguese's 3-4-3 - there is also a marked shift in policy.