Winger set to return to Manchester after Cameroon were knocked out of Afcon but Sunday’s fixture comes too soon
Interim boss Darren Fletcher has ruled out the possibility of Bryan Mbeumo playing for Manchester United in the FA Cup game against Brighton on Sunday.
The winger’s national team Cameroon were knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations in the quarter finals on Friday night by hosts Morocco, who won 2-0. His United teammate Noussair Mazraoui played for the opposing side, which meant that the competition was always going to end on Friday for one of United’s Afcon absentees.
Fletcher was asked in his press conference whether either Mbeumo or Mazraoui could play against Brighton on Sunday.
“It’s too close a turnaround,” said Fletcher. “So we’ll have the same players available we had against Burnley, no new additions.”
The FA Cup clash is expected to be Fletcher’s last at the helm, with United looking to have a more experienced interim option in charge by the time they face Manchester City at Old Trafford on 17 January.
“I have not [spoken to Ratcliffe], I speak to Omar [Berrada] and Jason [Wilcox] – that’s how the processes work,” Fletcher said.
“For me, I’ve been focusing on the job at hand, preparing the team for these two games. There’s been no thoughts or conversations about my future.
“Honestly, the people in Jason and Omar have given me full responsibility to take control of these two games, make my own decisions, lead the team, guide the team, prepare the team, and that’s what I’ve been doing.”
Fletcher believes United must go all out in the FA Cup as their most realistic chance for silverware this season, starting with the match against Brighton.
“It’s an important competition,” Fletcher said. “Manchester United are about winning trophies and I think we’ve had good success in the competition in recent years.
“We won it a couple of years ago and lost in the final [in 2023]. It’s an amazing competition, it’s the first trophy I won as a player. It’s a special tournament.
“With the season so far, not in Europe, out of the League Cup, the FA Cup is a trophy we should be vying to win and giving ourselves every opportunity to win.”
