INEOS’ immediate plans will not please Fletcher or Solskjaer, could derail United’s season – report

Ruben Amorim, unhappy with his Manchester United squad following a spate of injuries and the departure of several key stars for the Africa Cup of Nations, asked INEOS for reinforcements in January. While a midfielder was always the top priority, Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, and Mason Mount’s injuries, coupled with the departures of Bryan Mbeumo and Amad, meant the attack was severely weakened. The Red Devils made a move for Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo; however, despite late hijack attempts, the Ghanaian chose to join noisy neighbours, Manchester City. That angered the Portuguese tactician, who had a heated discussion with football director Jason Wilcox and blamed the recruitment department during the extraordinary post-match rant following the Leeds game. Amorim was denied January signings The 20-time English league champions refused to hand anymore funds to strengthen the squad in Amorim’s image, and out he went, with Darren Fletcher taking over on an interim basis. There are murmurs that the Scotsman could remain in the position till the end of the season, while INEOS are also interviewing former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his assistant, Michael Carrick for the post. Given the Old Trafford side have aspirations of making it back to the Champions League, any new appointment will want a bit of help from the co-owners during the January window. However, as per Football Insider, they are unlikely to receive much and all funds are expected to be utilised in the summer once the new permanent manager is in place. No plans to change that “Man United have no plans to spend big in the January transfer window and the new manager will not be guaranteed funds to improve their squad. “The managerial change won’t have a massive impact on what United doing in this transfer window. There’s no big plans at United to make too many signings in January, if any at all. “I think they’re happy to get those players back from AFCON, which will boost the squad. Obviously then they want to keep their powder dry for the summer when there could be a new manager in charge at Old Trafford who will be looking to make their own signings.” How the caretaker boss will react to this update remains to be seen. Hopefully, the AFCON stars return injury-free for this to remain the case. Feature image Carl Recine via Getty Images The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Ayantan Chowdhury After failing to become a professional footballer, Ayantan switched to the next best thing: writing about the greatest football club in the world. He has extensive sports journalism experience, having worked for over 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25