Ruben Amorim is confident players will not be put off by the current malaise at Manchester United and believes he can convince anyone to sign up to his “clear idea” of where he wants to take the club.
United sit 14th in the Premier League ahead of Sunday’s trip to Bournemouth after a disappointing season that started under Erik ten Hag and will finish with Amorim having made little discernible improvement.
A major summer overhaul is expected with maybe as many as 10 players due to depart Old Trafford and a similar number brought in.
Even if United fail to qualify for the Champions League via the Europa League – they take on Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of their semi-final clash on Thursday – Amorim is optimistic the club remain an enticing prospect for players.
“It’s Manchester United”
He said: “It’s Manchester United. What I feel is there are a lot of players that want to play for our club. If you look at our club at the moment with all the problems, changing coach, it looks a little bit of a problem but we have a clear idea and that’s the easiest part to explain to a player. It’s Manchester United and every player wants to play for Manchester United.”
United are reported to have made progress this week in their pursuit of Wolves forward Matheus Cunha but Amorim was not willing to discuss the Brazilian.
He added: “I could say this is a conversation for the end of the season but I have an idea that is clear because we need to do things early.
“I will not say anything about Matheus because if I say one time I will have to comment on every situation. I am focused on this season and even the next few games could change our plan for next season.”
Amorim says Casemiro is one player that has given him food for thought after it looked as though he was heading for the exit door.
The Portuguese said: “Everything can happen. Casemiro is the best example. He wasn’t playing and then you see the last games he’s having a part, he’s performing quite well, he’s playing all the time.
“I like to change my mind, if they change my mind I like that, I want to put the best players in my team.”
Rashford form makes Amorim happy
Whether Amorim is willing to change his stance on Marcus Rashford remains to be seen, however.
The England international is playing well for Aston Villa having joined on loan in January and is believed to be weighing up his options for the summer.
His form has not gone unnoticed – and the same applies for Antony who is starring on loan at Real Betis – and Amorim says the pair impressing elsewhere is a good thing for United.
“All the players on loan will return and then the club will decide what to do at the end of the season,” he said. “The talent of Rashford, the talent of Antony, they all have talent. We are really happy because if you put players on loan you want them to perform. That is good for us.”
ℹ️ The boss has ruled @DalotDiogo out of our upcoming games due to an injury.#MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 25, 2025
Dalot blow
It wasn’t all good news, however, with Amorim revealing full-back Diogo Dalot is out for an unspecified period due to a calf problem.
He said: “Dalot is out. We don’t know how long he’s going to be out. But he’s out for these next games.
“There is that possibility [he will miss the remainder of the season] but I don’t know. We will check week by week because he works really hard. He can recover quite well, so we’ll see.
“He has something in his muscle in his calf. He had a sequence of games where he played all the time. We try to manage [that] but the players play a lot of minutes and are not so ready to cope with that.”