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New hierarchy hoping Portuguese can unlock full potential of underperforming squad
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Ruben Amorim is set to operate on a more modest budget to Erik ten Hag at Manchester United and will be tasked with maximising the untapped potential in the squad as the club aim to end the damaging and costly cycle of mass overhauls.
The new United hierarchy have no plans under Amorim to rip up a squad they feel is capable of delivering far more and are determined to move away from a culture of persistent upheaval they believe to be financially unsustainable and destructive to coherent squad building.
Denmark striker Rasmus Hojlund and England midfielder Mason Mount are cited as just two examples of players United are hoping can thrive in a new environment under the charismatic Portuguese, who will take charge of his first game as the club’s new head coach away to Ipswich Town on Sunday. Amorim took official charge of his first training session with United on Monday.
United have averaged five new signings every summer for the past 10 years under four different managers with vastly different ideas of how they want to play. All have had little success to show for the huge expenditure.
While Amorim is expected to be operating under a more modest transfer budget next summer than his predecessor Ten Hag did during his 2½-year reign, when he spent more than £600 million, United want to implement a more sustainable structure where waste is limited, the churn of players greatly reduced and more talent realised.
United feel there are plenty of players in the squad who, with better coaching, attention and support in the right system and set-up, have a much higher ceiling than they may have shown previously, and the club hope Amorim can unlock that potential.
Equally, there is a feeling there may be more experienced players who also stand to benefit considerably from Amorim’s arrival and others who find they are given a new lease of life in potentially reimagined roles.
With losses before tax totalling £312.9 million over the past three seasons, United are under huge pressure to reduce costs to ensure continued compliance with the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules and Uefa’s own financial sustainability regulations.
Those pressures will become more acute if the club miss out on Champions League qualification for a second successive season and, with it, the vast broadcast revenues that come with playing in Europe’s premier club competition. In that scenario, United would also face a financial penalty under the terms of their kit deal with Adidas.
United, who shed 250 staff jobs in the summer, are continuing to review costs across all areas of the club as they strive to reduce those losses. That includes the possibility of cutting in half the cash they give to the Manchester United Disabled Supporters’ Association, although there is no certainty at this stage that will happen.
The wider financial challenges will ensure a pressing need for United to sell well to raise money to reinvest next year and a sensible approach to buying after years of transfer-market failures and scattergun spending that have left little room for manoeuvre. Old Trafford sources insist it is imperative the club move away from the wasteful, inefficient transfer approach of the past and the cumulative damage of repeat mistakes by building a more sustainable model and structure.
United are unlikely to be particularly active in the January transfer window unless an opportunity presents itself, players leave or injuries or other factors create a problem that has to be addressed.
But Dan Ashworth, the sporting director, Jason Wilcox, the technical director and Omar Berrada, the chief executive, will give Amorim time to assess the squad and see how players adapt to his approach and methods before they start to make any definitive plans for next summer’s window and the type of players and areas they might want to target to supplement what is already there – in addition to who may go.
Christian Eriksen, Victor Lindelof and Jonny Evans are all out of contract next summer, as are Harry Maguire and Amad Diallo, although the club have options to extend both of those players’s deals by another 12 months.
Casemiro and Tyrell Malacia enter the final 12 months of their contracts at the end of the season but with options for another year. Chelsea have an obligation to buy England winger Jadon Sancho, who is currently on loan at Stamford Bridge, next summer so long as the west-London club finish in the top 14 of the Premier League this season.
Amorim takes over a United side who are 13th in the Premier League, albeit just four points off the top four, after the club’s poor start to the season under Ten Hag.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, the Dutchman’s interim replacement, who has since left the club, helped to stabilise results during a four-game spell in charge, which included a 1-1 draw against Chelsea and 3-0 win over Leicester City in the league.
Amorim spoke on Friday about playing “without fear” from day one and “winning time” and patience through victories and establishing a clear identity and idea that the fans can recognise and get behind.
The 39-year-old is expected to implement a change of system by adopting a 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-3 formation, systems that brought him considerable success at Sporting.
Several players whom Ten Hag was unable to call on this season are moving closer to first-team returns, including summer signing Leny Yoro and left-backs Luke Shaw and Malacia, while Amorim will soon hope to have the likes of Kobbie Mainoo and Maguire back after muscle injuries. There are fitness concerns, though, over Lisandro Martinez, who had to withdraw from the Argentina squad last week.
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