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Visits to Brentford are difficult enough for Manchester United these days without the bad blood that will give Saturday's lunchtime clash at the Gtech Community Stadium an extra edge.
The occasion will see Bryan Mbeumo’s return to his old club and the first meeting between United and Brentford since they fell out over his £71million move to Old Trafford in the summer.
United accused Brentford of dragging out negotiations by ramping up their valuation from £70m to £77m, while putting pressure on Mbeumo to drop his personal terms to make the deal go through - or consider joining Tottenham or Newcastle instead.
For their part, Brentford felt that United had offered the Cameroon international a better package than Spurs and Newcastle, and then tried to recoup the money by low-balling them on the transfer fee.
Two bids were rejected before Mbeumo, who never made any secret of his desire to join United, moved to Old Trafford in a deal worth £65m plus £6m in add-ons.
Confidential then exclusively revealed that United had raided Brentford for their academy director Stephen Torpey to replace Nick Cox at Carrington, although talks between the two clubs over that move are said to have been considerably less fractious.
Bryan Mbeumo (left) swapped Brentford for Manchester United in July but the transfer negotiations led to bad blood between the clubs
United also poached the Bees' academy director Stephen Torpey this summer
Trips to Brentford have been painful for United since they were promoted, including the infamous 4-0 hammering in August 2022 under Erik ten Hag
Torpey will officially start his new job before Saturday’s game, with Cox leaving after nine years to take over as technical director at Everton.
The Gtech hasn’t been the happiest of hunting grounds for United since Brentford won promotion to the Premier League in 2021. Even a 3-1 win on their first visit under interim boss Ralf Rangnick was overshadowed by a Cristiano Ronaldo strop.
Erik ten Hag suffered an infamous 4-0 defeat in west London in his second game as United boss, and summoned the players in the next day for a 13.8km punishment run to make up for the overall distance they had lagged behind their opponents.
The Dutchman thought he had stolen a win on his return 19 months later when Mason Mount put United ahead with his first goal for the club in the 96th minute, only to see Kristoffer Ajer equalise in the 99th.
Ruben Amorim’s first visit to Brentford in May ended in a 4-3 defeat but the result made the game seem closer than it was, with United scoring two late consolation goals through Alejandro Garnacho and Amad Diallo.
He will head back to the Gtech on Saturday desperate to avoid a repeat of that match as United look to build on last weekend’s win over Chelsea.
Hair assault being probed
United are looking into footage that showed one of their fans being attacked by another supporter at the Chelsea match on Saturday, and will impose strong sanctions if the perpetrator is identified.
Frank Ilett, who has dubbed himself 'the United Strand', has gone viral for refusing to get a haircut until Amorim's side win five games in a row - something they last did in February 2024 under Ten Hag.
Frank Ilett, who has dubbed himself 'the United Strand', has gone viral for refusing to get a haircut until Ruben Amorim's side win five games in a row
Ilett was seemingly attacked by a fellow United fan at the Chelsea game on Saturday and the incident is being investigated by the club
Ilett began the challenge in October last year and posts daily updates of how his hair is looking on his accounts, which have 380,000 followers on Instagram and 253,000 on TikTok - growing almost as fast as his curly black locks.
One fan seemed to take umbrage with his stunt and was seen grabbing Ilett's hair and attempting to push him to the ground on the Old Trafford concourse. Other supporters intervened but the furious man continued to verbally abuse Ilett and accused him of not being a real fan.
Confidential understands the club is aware of the video, which has been widely circulated.
Malacia’s raring to go
There were some raised eyebrows last Friday when Amorim casually mentioned that Tyrell Malacia would be training with the Under 21s. In fact, Confidential understands the Dutchman has been with the youngsters for the past two weeks.
According to those around the group, his intensity is said to be ‘off the charts’ with his attitude ‘an example for everybody else’.
Interestingly, Malacia is also said to have requested to be allowed to play for the Under 21s, but is yet to receive the green light.
The 26-year-old, who was Ten Hag's first signing when he joined United for £13m in 2022, is the last remaining member of Amorim’s ‘bomb squad’, having been left behind by Jadon Sancho (on loan at Aston Villa), Marcus Rashford (on loan at Barcelona), Antony (sold to Real Betis), and Alejandro Garnacho (sold to Chelsea).
A late loan deal for Malacia to join La Liga side Elche collapsed and no suitable offers arrived from Turkey or Saudi Arabia. He spent the second half of last season back in the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven, and last turned out for United away at FCSB in the Europa League on January 30.
Tyrell Malacia made just eight appearances for United last season, before heading out on loan to PSV Eindhoven in February
Malacia won the Eredivisie with PSV but was put into Amorim's bomb squad when he returned from the loan
Considering how Malacia has handled himself in training, players in the Under 21s group have been left surprised that he was even lumped in with the other players in the 'bomb squad', given he was always likely to provide the least amount of disruption or distraction.
Malacia turned out once for the Under 21s last season on his return from injury, playing 45 minutes away to Huddersfield Town in the EFL Trophy.
Now, with little prospect of being reintegrated into Amorim’s first-team group, Malacia has been pushing bosses to let him play in the academy side to build himself back up.
Diego has work to do
While Malacia has been frozen out under Amorim, new left back Diego Leon has been training with the first-team group and played his first game for United’s Under 21s in a 2-1 win at Liverpool on Sunday.
Ahead of the Paraguayan arriving from Cerro Porteno this summer, Leon was ambitious in his targets. ‘Everyone thinks I’ll go out on loan, but I don’t have that mindset,’ he said. ‘I’m going to kill it in pre-season and within one or two games, I’ll already be playing with them.’
Confidential was in attendance for Leon’s first outing on Merseyside and, based on his 45-minute appearance, Leon still has a long way to go before getting any action for the first team.
At Liverpool he found it difficult to establish any rhythm with Bendito Mantato, who was playing in front of him, while Leon was booked for a cynical challenge after losing out in a duel in a dangerous area.
Liverpool targeted his side of the pitch and United fell behind before his day was cut short at half-time, with Mantato moving to left back and James Scanlon coming on at left wing.
Diego Leon made some bold predictions in pre-season about breaking into the United first team but has been stuck for minutes so far
There is certainly sympathy for the 18-year-old, not least because he should have been playing academy matches from the very start of the season rather than being kept out of games so he could train with the senior squad. He does not currently speak or understand English, which makes such a big move even harder.
Team-mate Victor Musa, 19, is believed to have taken on greater importance in the group in recent weeks, acting as translator for Leon – although Musa’s Basque version of Spanish and Leon’s Paraguayan dialect means even that is not smooth all of the time.
Leon will be with the Under 21s for the foreseeable future and should improve, but plenty of scouts at the Liverpool match expressed their confusion at the decision to prioritise Leon over Harry Amass, who was shipped out on loan to Sheffield Wednesday, where he is excelling.
Tyler’s waiting game
The debate around Leon also raises an interesting question over United’s handling of 20-year-old centre back Tyler Fredricson.
The youngster, who broke into the first team at the back end of last season, has had just 45 minutes of football so far this season. He was taken off at half-time in the disastrous Carabao Cup exit away to Grimsby Town and not featured since.
Fredricson is arguably the eighth-choice centre back available to Amorim behind Matthijs de Ligt, Leny Yoro, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martinez, Ayden Heaven and Noussair Mazraoui. Having had a recent chunk of his academy journey at United disrupted by injury, keeping Fredricson on the sidelines feels counter-productive to his development.
Involvement in first-team sessions is a positive for any and all young players that get the call, and Confidential has been told Jack Fletcher and Shea Lacey both left a lasting impression on Amorim and his staff in the past week.
But with no Carabao Cup matches, no games in Europe to allow rotation, and no FA Cup third round until January, there is an argument that keeping Fredricson on the first-team bench isn’t helping him, and he should play for the Under 21s instead.
Tyler Fredricson's only action this season was playing the first half of United's shock Carabao Cup defeat at League Two Grimsby Town
Chelsea chant silenced
A campaign to stamp out the homophobic ‘rent boy’ chant towards Chelsea fans seems to be working, with no significant incidents reported at Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Blues.
United issued a statement before the game telling fans that there is no place at Old Trafford for the ‘offensive and inappropriate’ chant, and warned that it is a hate crime punishable by ejection from the stadium, a banning order and potential criminal charges.
United’s deterrent programme, which includes an education video from anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out, appears to have been a success with club officials telling Confidential that United fans deserve credit for their response.
Rail seats installed
Work has begun to install 6,000 safe-standing seats in the second tier of the Stretford End, doubling the number in use at Old Trafford.
Work on the new rail seating is expected to be completed next month, and although some of it will be in place for the next home game against Sunderland a week on Saturday, the area will still be licensed as a seated section until it receives approval from the Sports Grounds Safety Authority.
The move will mean Old Trafford has one of the largest provisions of rail seating in the Premier League, and reflects continued investment in the matchday experience for fans.
Old Trafford will soon have 12,000 safe standing seats - the most of any team in the Premier League
Ince back for ex-players
One of the highlights of last week’s Grand Charity Sportsman’s Dinner was Paul Ince’s return to Old Trafford.
The 57-year-old, a key figure in Sir Alex Ferguson's first title-winning team in 1993 and a Double winner in 1994, was a special guest at Thursday’s event where he reminisced about the good times with former United chairman Martin Edwards, and his British-record transfer to Inter Milan for £7.5million in 1995.
Ince was among a number of stars who turned out to help raise funds for the Association of Former Manchester United Players, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.
United’s director of football Jason Wilcox made a guest appearance and spoke candidly on stage with Alan Keegan, United’s official stadium announcer known as the Voice of Old Trafford, about the challenge of reviving the club’s fortunes.
The items auctioned off included a copy of History of United, a new book with artwork by Paul Trevillion and a foreword by Bryan Robson, with all funds raised going to the United ex-players’ association.
Paul Ince (second right) reminisced about his time at United this week at an event to raise money for the club's former players
Euro football returns to Old Trafford
United are still getting used to the unfamiliar feeling of going a week between matches after missing out on Europe for the second time in 35 years and exiting the Carabao Cup at the first hurdle.
But for those craving a football fix, look no further than the Premier League International Cup, an Under 21s tournament which begins on Wednesday with the visit of Athletic Club. Borussia Dortmund, Anderlecht and Sporting Lisbon's youth sides will also visit this season.
It is an invaluable opportunity for players, such as highly-rated striker Chido Obi and the aforementioned Lacey, to play in front of a crowd at Old Trafford, and also a chance for fans to see the club’s rising stars in action. Tickets are £10 adults and £5 for kids.
Retro is the way to go
United top the Premier League table of retro shirt sales, according to the latest study, with their kit from the 1992-93 title-winning season the most popular.
The Reds can boast 95 out of the 1,000 most-expensive top-flight shirts analysed by SeatPick, making up almost a tenth of the overall total.
Explaining why United's 1992-93 jersey accounts for 23 per cent of all the club’s vintage shirt sales, a spokesman for the ticket comparison website said: ‘This was United's first Premier League title after 26 years of hurt.
United's iconic 1992-93 home jersey is one of the most popular retro shirts around, and is described as 'liquid gold' for collectors
Mid-90s shirts, such as this iconic 1996 number worn by the likes of Eric Cantona, are a huge hit with retro aficionados
'The iconic Sharp-sponsored shirts worn by Cantona, Hughes, and Giggs as they finally broke Liverpool's dominance – pure liquid gold for collectors.
‘This era represents the exact moment English football went global, making it historically significant beyond just sporting success.’
The mid-90s dominates the list, with demand for retro shirts peaking for eight of the top 10 clubs peaking between 1992 and 1997.
Although United are No 1 for volume of shirts sold, their average price of £153 ranks only sixth - behind the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea.
