According to reports, Ruben Amorim ‘intends to quickly clean up’ Man Utd and has made four players available for transfer in January.

Man Utd confirmed the appointment of Sporting boss Amorim as their new head coach following the decision to sack Erik ten Hag.

Amorim will not take charge at Old Trafford until November 11 as he works a notice period in his contract and is currently preparing his side to face Man City in the Champions League.

This will at least give the 39-year-old the international break to stamp his authority and get his ideas across at the club.

His first match in charge will be against Ipswich Town at Portman Road on November 24.

Man Utd spent around £180million in the summer transfer window and the Premier League’s spending rules will surely restrict them in January, but plenty of Sporting players are being linked with a move alongside Amorim.

Unsurprisingly, Viktor Gyokeres – who has 45 goals this year – is being linked, because a manager bringing former players with them to Old Trafford has worked so very well in the past.

Another player Amorim is reportedly keen to bring with him from Sporting to Man Utd is centre-back Goncalo Inacio.

Amorim to sell unwanted Man Utd quartet, sign Sporting defender

According to Sky Sport journalist Sacha Tavolieri, Inacio is ‘a summer priority’ for Man Utd and Amorim ‘could bring several other players he knows at Sporting to Old Trafford’.

The Red Devils were looking at young centre-back Ousmane Diomande last summer and it is claimed he ‘could also make the way to England’.

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In order to buy, Man Utd must sell. A report last week claimed Amorim wants to sell four players who ‘don’t interest him’, and this report mentions the same quartet.

Indeed, ‘as a direct consequence’ of Amorim’s intentions to ‘quickly clean up’ the club through recruitment and a new identity on and off the pitch, Antony, Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and Victor Lindelof have been ‘placed on the transfer market’.

The Portuguese head coach wants to sell all four to ‘free up a large wage bill’ and target his players at Sporting, starting with Inacio.

The report adds that Amorim intends to ‘play football totally opposite to that of Erik ten Hag’, which is a pretty good starting point.

Inacio would undoubtedly improve Man Utd’s defence but Amorim has lots of options in that position, though keeping them all fit proved very difficult for Ten Hag.

Ten Hag used several centre-back combinations in his final 12 months at the club and it would not be silly to say that 36-year-old Jonny Evans was his most consistent performer when called upon.

The Dutchman signed quite a few players he managed at Ajax, which turned out to be an unconvincing transfer strategy.

The Man Utd hierarchy will likely be reluctant to give Amorim the freedom to raid Sporting but This Is Manchester United We’re Talking About, and they probably will.

Jamie Carragher is convinced new Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim will change the Red Devils’ tactics to a back three when he takes over later this month.

The Red Devils have predominantly used a back four during Erik ten Hag’s time in charge at Old Trafford but many supporters and pundits struggled to identify the Dutchman’s playing style in his two years at Man Utd.

Ten Hag was sacked last week after a terrible start to the new season with the Red Devils winning just three of their opening ten Premier League matches.

Man Utd are currently 13th in the Premier League table and only Crystal Palace and newly-promoted Southampton have scored fewer goals than the Red Devils.

The Premier League giants moved swiftly to appoint a new manager last week in the form of Sporting Lisbon boss Amorim and many fans are excited about the potential change in style of play and formation.

And former Liverpool defender Carragher is convinced that Amorim will deploy a back three and use Noussair Mazraoui and Alejandro Garnacho as ultra-attacking wing-backs.

Carragher is also expecting summer signing Leny Yoro – who is yet to play a competitive match for Man Utd – to come into the team, when he is fit, as the right centre-back alongside Matthijs De Ligt and Lisandro Martinez in a 3-4-3 formation.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Carragher said: “I go to the setup and I’ve almost gone for one attacking full-back on one side [Mazraoui] and Garnacho on the other because when you look at his set-up at Sporting, these players are asked to be really high like wingers.”

Jamie Carragher predicts how Manchester United could look under Rúben Amorim… 🤔 pic.twitter.com/cK4yDjTxrQ

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 4, 2024

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Gary Neville insists that Amorim must be the first manager in a decade to get the best out of new signings in order for him to be a success at Man Utd.

Neville said on Sky Sports: “He [Amorim] has to get the best out of the players. The players need to take responsibility for what’s happened in the last 10 years. The club have signed a lot of players that other clubs wanted and when those players have arrived at Manchester United they’ve deteriorated.

“Why is that? It could be the coach, it could be the players, it could be the environment is too big for them, whatever it is it has to change because if he [Amorim] doesn’t change that he will fall the same way the rest of them have.

“There are managers that have come here that have been tried and tested and successful, there are players that have come here with great potential and ones that you thought would be good signings for the club.

“Only really Bruno I can think of in 10 years has signed for the club and done more than I thought he would. I can’t think of any other player. That’s £1.8bn spent in the last 10 years, that’s one thing that has to change.”

Former Man Utd striker Dimitar Berbatov thinks Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have been “embarrassing” in front of goal this season.

The Red Devils have made a terrible start to the new season with the Premier League giants managing just three wins in ten Premier League matches.

Interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy couldn’t change their fortunes on Sunday when Man Utd drew 1-1 against Chelsea in another underwhelming display.

Man Utd are 13th in the Premier League table and only Crystal Palace and newly-promoted Southampton have scored fewer goals than the Red Devils this campaign.

Erik ten Hag was sacked last Monday over their terrible run of displays and results, while Man Utd moved quickly to appoint Ruben Amorim on Friday to replace him.

Amorim will join on November 11 ahead of the next international break and there have already been rumours that some of his current Sporting Lisbon squad could follow him to Old Trafford in January.

One heavily linked is former Coventry City striker Viktor Gyokeres – who has scored 20 goals in 15 appearances this term – as Man Utd look to improve their goalscoring output.

And Berbatov seemed to hint at the possibility of Gyokeres moving to Old Trafford, he told Sky Sports: “This guy Viktor Gyokeres, he is scoring goals for run right now.

“So I think there is a special connection with the coach so maybe we probably are going to see him in a United shirt.”

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When asked if he would welcome the signing of the Sweden international, Berbatov replied: “From what he is showing right now, I think yes.

“Our strikers at the moment are not producing and scoring goals. We’re 18th in the league [for goals scored so far this season] which is embarrassing for a stature of club like United. So this is a position that I would like to see improvement.”

There have been reports that Gyokeres isn’t too keen to join Amorim at Man Utd because of the uncertainty surrounding the club in recent years, with one outlet claiming the striker doesn’t want to move to the Red Devils because the club is ‘disorganised, unstable and permanently on fire’.

Speaking after scoring four goals against Estrela on Thursday, Gyokeres responded to the speculation surrounding a move to Man Utd.

The Swede told reporters: “Going with Amorim to Manchester United? I don’t know. I’m here. As you can see, I enjoy it at Sporting.

“It’s nothing I really think about. I’m sad about him [Amorim] leaving. We wish him all the best.”

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has told Ruben Amorim three things he must improve to change the Red Devils’ “underdog” mentality.

Amorim has been confirmed as Erik ten Hag’s replacement after the Dutchman was sacked last Monday.

The Man Utd hierarchy extended Ten Hag’s contract by 12 months in the summer, overlooking the club’s worst finish in Premier League history following the FA Cup final victory against Manchester City.

Amorim swiftly emerged as the frontrunner for the Red Devils job and will not take over until November 11 due to a notice period in his Sporting contract.

That means assistant manager Ruud van Nistelrooy will be in charge against PAOK in the Europa League and Leicester City in the Premier League this week.

The Dutchman – who was brought back to Old Trafford by Ten Hag in the summer – managed Man Utd against Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday after overseeing a convincing 5-2 Carabao Cup win over Leicester.

The Red Devils drew 1-1 against Chelsea in a game severely lacking quality.

Amorim has his work cut out for him but he will be delighted to have been passed on some tactical advice from former Valencia manager Neville.

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The club’s former right-back – who won three of 16 La Liga matches at Valencia – has three things he believes Amorim needs to improve, starting with the backline playing further up the pitch as the current mentality makes Man Utd “play like the underdog in games”.

“If you want to push your defence up the pitch, which is what I think every team looks to do nowadays, Amorim has got to start with that because Manchester United quite often have to travel 70, 80 yards to score a goal because they’re so deep and they play like the underdog in games,” Neville said on his podcast.

“The other metric was possession one in the final third.

“So possession won high up the pitch: first was Manchester City, second was Tottenham, third was Arsenal and fourth was Liverpool. Manchester United are ninth.

“The final one I asked for was the highest turnovers.

“City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal made up the top four while Manchester United were ninth. These three things are critical to performance levels.

“Man Utd played like a team that is sat behind the ball. ‘Let’s try and get them on the counter or score from a set piece’. That’s got to change.

“You’ve got to be a team of dominance. And I mean dominance. I mean dominating the ball in the final third, dominating your forwards and staying high up the pitch.”

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Scoring goals has been a real issue for Man Utd this season but interim boss Van Nistelrooy is adamant “the goals will come”.

He said: “[I think] today we are slightly disappointed because we didn’t score the second with the opportunities we had, that is the feeling for me personally and also in the dressing room,” began Ruud in his post-match media duties.

“In the last [few games] that we [have] played, we lost some points that we didn’t convert our chances. The good thing always is, and the way I think, when you create a lot all through the season so far, so in that sense I am not too worried.

“When the players are going to get in the flow of things are results coming, confidence growing, the goals will come.”