Ruben Amorim’s appointment as the new Man Utd manager is the “dream scenario” for three Red Devils players, according to former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin.

The Red Devils have been terrible so far this season with Man Utd currently 13th in the Premier League as Amorim prepares to take over on November 11 after Erik ten Hag’s sacking last week.

Man Utd have won just three matches all season with only Crystal Palace and Southampton scoring fewer goals than them in the Premier League this term.

But Nevin reckons three players could be buoyed by the news of Amorim’s arrival at Man Utd with Bruno Fernandes, Manuel Ugarte and Luke Shaw having reason to celebrate for differing reasons.

Nevin told BetVictor: “When you look at players trying to get into Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United side, it might help if you’re Portuguese! There’s been an amazing amount of positivity from Bruno Fernandes around the announcement.

“I think Manuel Ugarte, whom he worked with at Sporting, will be important for him. In the end it will really come down to who fits into his system, because he is going to play three at the back. That will suit certain players, but others, not so much.

“It’s a dream scenario for Luke Shaw. He can play on the left of the back three, or as the left wing-back. Long-term, I think it will be harder for players like Casemiro and Christian Eriksen. They’re not young anymore and Amorim will want more dynamism in his midfield. I think it will be tough for them.”

But Nevin fired a warning to Amorim about his 3-4-3 system that he has deployed at Sporting Lisbon if he decides to use his favoured formation at Man Utd.

Nevin added: “Amorim needs to get them to a level where they can compete for European football again,” said Nevin. “Everyone wants to know which players will suit him, but he won’t know until he works with the squad. A player might seem perfect for a certain manager’s system, but then they might hate each other!

“It comes down to who buys into it. I do think he’ll make them better, but it’ll be intriguing to see how long it takes for his system to work. Three-at-the-back systems seem to work really well initially, but then teams work out how to play against it.

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“Chelsea experienced that under Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel. The system brought immediate success for both of them, but then they both got found out the following season.

“It’ll be like that for Manchester United. He’ll bring in his own ideas and I suspect they’ll work really well initially because he knows the system. But Premier League teams aren’t stupid, they’ll learn quickly and find where the weaknesses are.”

Some fans have been disappointed by the impact of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS so far but Nevin reckons the Amorin appointment marks the start of their proper reign.

Nevin continued: “The INEOS era at Manchester United starts when Ruben Amorim walks through the door. They’ve got the backroom staff in place, the chief executive, and now they’ve got the manager they want – it’s all in place now. He needs to be given a minimum of two transfer windows, and after that you’ll find out exactly what he is.

“The worst thing they can do is what they did with David Moyes. If they end up doing that and sacking him after 10 months, then they deserve whatever happens to them. That group of players has shown that they’re not good enough, so it’s going to take time. They need to give him a couple of windows before they can expect improvement, never mind winning things!”

Manchester United have been urged to re-sign France international Paul Pogba as he is going to be “super motivated” when he returns from his doping ban.

The 31-year-old progressed through the ranks at Man Utd but left the Premier League giants after butting heads with Sir Alex Ferguson.

After deciding against renewing his contract, Pogba joined Juventus on a free transfer and reached his potential for the Italian giants.

The Frenchman’s form for Juventus tempted Man Utd to re-sign him in 2016 for around £86m. He proved to be a flop at Old Trafford as his poor attitude and several controversies led to him returning to the Serie A side on a free transfer in 2022.

Pogba’s career trajectory did not take an upturn after returning to Juventus as his second spell at the club has been disastrous.

The 31-year-old missed the majority of the 2022/23 campaign due to injury. Then at the start of this year, he was given a four-year doping ban as a positive test found he had a non-endogenous testosterone in his system.

Pogba appealed this verdict and had his ban reduced to 18 months. This means he will be free to resume training in January 2025 and play in March 2025.

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Subsequently, it’s been reported that Juventus are letting Pogba leave, and he’s expected to secure a move elsewhere in January.

Premier League clubs are being mooted as possible destinations and Emmanuel Petit has explained why he would be “perfect” for Arsenal.

“Honestly, Arsenal should gamble on signing Paul Pogba. He will give everything on the pitch. It will take him a few weeks to get fully fit, but he will be so eager to wash his name.

“There is a motivation that is priceless to a manager like Mikel Arteta. Pogba fits the Arsenal midfield perfectly, he’s tall, strong and very creative.

“We all know how good a happy Pogba is, he needs love and to be given confidence, I think Arteta and Arsenal can offer this to him.”

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Ex-Man Utd forward Louis Saha has encouraged his former club to re-sign Pogba again as he’d “love to see him” back at Old Trafford.

“Paul Pogba can go wherever he wants. If he’s given the platform to show his talent again, people will be reminded of how special he is,” Saha said.

“He can play in the Champions League; he can play for France and I’m a big fan of his. I’ve always been harsh on him because when you have that talent, you have a responsibility.

“He’s going to be super motivated when he comes back. I would love to see him at Manchester United because when you look at their midfield, they have lost Scott McTominay which is a loss because he contributed to the team well.

“When you look at how things went with previous managers and try to understand what happened, you see that there were mistakes that have been made – and letting Pogba go was a sign that things are difficult to manage at Manchester United.

“It wasn’t just an Erik ten Hag problem, several very talented players struggled with the club’s transition.

“There were problems with Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and even Marcus Rashford in some way. All those things need to stop and hopefully their signings can perform the way they should be performing.”

Liverpool are averaging three Big Chances in every Premier League game this season – putting them way ahead of Manchester City, who have created eight fewer Big Chances across the first 10 games of the season.

Liverpool topped this table at the end of last season and have made an equally strong start to 2024/25, though they have been helped by a particularly kind fixture list.

Tottenham are the Premier League’s highest scorers this season but they are actually creating Big Chances less often than even Brentford, who ranked highly on this metric last season too.

The biggest surprise is that City have actually created fewer Opta-defined Big Chances than Manchester United, despite City scoring 19 goals to United’s 12.

United have improved quite considerably in the creative department since last season, though they still have a problem finishing those chances; three United players are among the 10 worst finishers this season.

It suggests that Ruben Amorim has fewer issues than he might have suspected when he looked at the actual Premier League table.

The real success story of this season are the Cottagers, who were 17th in this table last season but are currently eighth after bringing in Emile Smith Rowe in the summer to supplement a creative department that also includes Andreas Pereira, Alex Iwobi and Adama Traore.

Aston Villa were eighth on this metric last season and have pulled themselves up to second so far in 2024/25, though Opta stats also show that Ollie Watkins has missed more Big Chances than any other Premier League player in this campaign.

Arsenal have been told to beat Man Utd to the signing of Viktor Gyokeres after the Sporting Lisbon striker is called a “better version of Erling Haaland”.

Gyokeres scored a hat-trick as Sporting beat Man City 4-1 in a humbling defeat for the Premier League champions in Portugal on Tuesday night.

New Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim masterminded the victory over Man City with the Portuguese coach not joining the Red Devils until November 11.

And there have already been links that Amorim could take a number of his Sporting players with him to Old Trafford, including Gyokeres.

The Sweden international has attracted a lot of interest from various Premier League clubs after scoring 43 goals in 50 matches in all competitions last term.

And Gyokeres’ hat-trick against Man City on Tuesday night took his tally for the season to 23 in just 17 matches in all competitions.

Former Tottenham star Rafael van der Vaart heaped praise on Gyokeres after the match and described him as a “better version of Erling Haaland”.

And former Arsenal striker Alan Smith reckons the Gunners should compete against Man Utd and any other club who attempts to buy Gyokereres in January or the summer.

Smith told Instant Casino: “I think having a more orthodox centre-forward than Kai Havertz would add to the Arsenal squad. I’m sure Arsenal looked at trying to sign one in the summer, but there aren’t many about, and if they are about then they’re going to cost a lot of money. A centre-forward of quality in January would be brilliant for the club if they want to challenge for the title.

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“Viktor Gyökeres from Sporting is hot property, isn’t he? Ruben Amorim might have eyes on him for Manchester United, but he’s young, he’s of that profile that Arsenal need and he’s been knocking in goals for fun so far this season. At the moment, you’d say he’s the one making all the waves, so I’d like to see Arsenal make a move for him.

“Havertz has had a really good season so far – he’s picked up goals and led the line well – but having that more forthright presence through the middle would certainly be a great option for Mikel Arteta to have. It clearly wasn’t to be for Arsenal in the summer regards signing a striker so let’s see what they can do in January.”

It was announced earlier this week that Edu will be leaving his director of football position at Arsenal but Smith doesn’t think it will derail the club.

Smith added: “I don’t think Edu leaving as sporting director will interfere with the results on the pitch for Arsenal. The dressing room won’t be overly concerned, I’m sure the wheels are already in motion preparing for both the January transfer window and the one in the summer.

“They’ve got to get the right person in who’s of a certain quality, though. Arteta is so single-minded so I think he’ll only be focusing on the team and how they can improve throughout the season. It won’t affect them on the pitch.”

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