Nottingham Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White didn’t sugar-coat anything. Ahead of Saturday’s clash, he admitted the truth most Premier League squads have now started whispering: Manchester United have a new nightmare for defenders — and he’s currently on fire.
“If there’s one player I don’t want to face right now, it’s him,” Gibbs-White said. “This particular guy has turned into a complete beast under Amorim. Everybody in our dressing room is talking about him. We’ve all seen the clips. Nobody has the answer yet.”
The player?
Matheus Cunha.
The same Cunha people hesitated to rate. The one many thought was just a “work-rate” attacker without end product. The one critics said wasn’t clinical enough for a top club.
Under Ruben Amorim, that version no longer exists.
Cunha has evolved.
He is operating at full confidence.
He presses like a madman.
He drives forward with the ball like he’s possessed.
His link-up play is sharp, and his finishing now has venom.
This is a forward who smells fear.
You can see the transformation:
His first touch is cleaner.
His movement is smarter.
His body language screams authority.
And his goals? They look intentional. Calculated. Inevitable.
Amorim didn’t just give him minutes — he gave him purpose. He told him: “You are not just part of the team. You are the trigger.”
Cunha listened.
Now defenders who used to step toward him back off.
Center-backs who tried to muscle him now get spun.
He is not playing to fit in — he is playing to take over games.
Gibbs-White and Nottingham Forest have studied the tapes: They saw how Cunha tore open Aston Villa’s defence. They watched how he pressed Arsenal’s backline into mistakes. They saw how he keeps creating chances where none exist.
And now they must deal with him in real time.
Forest will try doubling him.
They will try cutting off his supply.
They will try slowing his drive.
But they know the truth:
When Cunha decides to take control, nobody stops him.
Not with his current confidence.
Not with his energy.
Not with his hunger.
This Saturday is not just Forest vs Manchester United.
It is Forest vs the Amorim-engineered version of Matheus Cunha —
the version that defenders are losing sleep over.
Gibbs-White said it plainly because he understands what is coming.
Cunha is not interested in opinions or praise.
He is only interested in damage.