Ruben Amorim has confirmed Manchester United’s plans to trigger the option to extend Harry Maguire’s contract at Old Trafford to aid his “starving” team.

Maguire was stripped of the captaincy and put on the transfer market during the reign of Amorim’s predecessor Erik ten Hag, but regained favour under the Dutchman at the end of his time at the club having decided to remain and fight for his place despite nearly moving to West Ham in the summer of 2023.

The England international became the most expensive defender in the world when he made his £80m switch from Leicester in 2019 and has since made 221 appearances for the club.

It was assumed that United were willing to let Maguire’s contract run down, allowing him to leave on a free transfer at the end of the season, but it was claimed last week that Amorim is ‘putting pressure’ on the club bosses to take up the option of extending his stay by a further 12 months.

The Portuguese boss has ‘pinpointed him as one of the more reliable members of the dressing room since heading into the dugout’ and confirmed ahead of his side’s clash with Liverpool on Sunday that the club is going to trigger his option.

Amorim said: “I spoke with him [Harry] this morning and I told him he has to improve on the pitch, we need him a lot. Also, he has to improve as a leader. We all know situation he had here but we need him a lot in this moment, but we are going to trigger the option for him. We are starving for leaders on the pitch. He is a leader.”

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But Amorim was eager to point out that he needs other members of his squad to “step up” as leaders in the dressing room.

He added: “I think it is not one thing of our team; it is all the teams. If you want to be a top, top team you have to have leaders. We have that in the dressing room but they have to step up. We need the guys that are more experienced to help the younger players.”

Amorim was also asked about Marcus Rashford, who was included in the squad for the Newcastle clash on Monday, and confirmed that the wantaway forward is out again due to illness.

He said: “It’s the same situation. At the moment, he’s ill, he’s not training so we’ll see in the future but he’s like a normal player, then I make a selection so it’s the same. I think he’s going to be out this week, he’s not training. We’ll see but I think this week he’s out.”

Goalscoring continues to be a significant problem for Amorim at United amid rumours he’s desperate to sign a new striker, with Viktor Gyokeres and Victor Osimhen among the fanciful options.

But instead of signing a new striker, which will prove difficult if the club fails to move players on in January, they could instead look to bring in a new coach to aid their finishing woes.

Former United defender Wes Brown believes Wayne Rooney – who was recently let go by Plymouth – could be a good addition to Amorim’s staff.

“If Wayne wanted to spend time as a striking coach he would be absolutely brilliant at it,” Brown said. “He was one of the best goalscorers we’ve ever seen and was a top playmaker as well. If he wanted to do that he would be very good on movement and things like that, he was one of the best to do it.

“Could he help Rasmus Hojlund at United? I think all young strikers would love to listen to Wayne and his knowledge.

“When I was a young player I remember getting a few tips from Laurent Blanc and the little things like that can really help. If Wayne was on hand to give out some advice, I’m sure everyone would be willing to listen.”

The Premier League form table has Forest at the summit and only Saints below Man Utd.

Man Utd might be 14th in the actual table, but their recent form paints an even more wretched picture of their Premier League struggles…

Ruben Amorim has been told that Manchester United star Joshua Zirkzee “would be done” at Old Trafford if Sir Alex Ferguson was still in charge of the club.

United fell to their fifth defeat in their last six Premier League games as Newcastle tore them apart in the opening half hour of their 2-0 victory over the Red Devils on Monday.

Amorim opted to start Casemiro and Christian Eriksen in midfield in a baffling move deserving of criticism, with Kobbie Mainoo’s introduction after 33 minutes evening things up against Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton and Sandro Tonali.

Zirkzee was the man hauled off in favour of Mainoo and was jeered by the shameful so-called fans at Old Trafford.

The Netherlands international was understandably frustrated by his early substitution and initially walked down the tunnel and back to the changing room before returning to United’s bench for the rest of the game.

Former Man Utd goalkeeper Ben Foster, who spent five years under Ferguson, says that wouldn’t have been tolerated by the legendary boss.

“When he [Zirkzee] walked off down the tunnel… If Alex Ferguson would have been manager, that player would have been done,” Foster said on his YouTube channel.

“Whoever that is, if you walk off that pitch when you’ve been brought off after 30 minutes, get a coat and walk straight into the dressing room. You’re done. I promise you, you’re done. It just doesn’t work like that.

“And I guarantee you, when he got back to the changing room, somebody would have said to him, ‘You need to get back outside. This is not a good look… The camera has just watched you walk all the way down the line, the fans are booing.’

“It is a horrible situation. I really feel for him. At that moment in time, the atmosphere in Old Trafford was horrible. United were getting pumped.

“They were on the back foot and it was almost like he was the scapegoat. He was just one of 11 problems on that pitch.”

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Zirkzee has underwhelmed following his £36.5m move from Atalanta last summer, scoring just three goals in 19 Premier League appearances.

Speaking after the Dutch forward was hauled off against Newcastle, Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand said he was ‘really gutted’ for the 23-year-old.

“I feel for him. I’m really, really gutted for him as a former professional footballer,” the ex-England defender said.

“To be dragged off after 30 minutes is hard to take and then the reaction in the stadium as well, there was some boos and stuff like that. It’s difficult, man.

“My heart goes out to him and I hope he can recover and I hope he gets rebuilt from within, from the players and the manager.

“The manager said, ‘I’m going to go and speak to him because it was a tactical decision’, but what I would say is that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this happen.

“We’ve seen better players come back from this, we’ve seen some bigger and better players dragged off at these times in a game and it’s about having the resilience to come back as well.

“This is a tough situation, I know that, but he needs people like Bruno, the captain of the team, who needs to set the right example discipline-wise but also in terms of a reaction to certain situations.

“We need people like him [Fernandes] to go and get around Zirkzee and make sure, ‘You know what, this ain’t the end for you, there’s a future here’.

“One thing I would say is we’re not seeing the best of any of our players right now and we’ve been saying that for a long time anyway.

“But I think the manager needs to get to a pre-season and to really hammer home his ideas and then we can have a real judgement on him as a manager.”

Manchester United stars became ‘super-sleuths’ in a bid to uncover the mole behind the team news leaks and the Red Devils ‘culprit’ has reportedly been identified.

Ruben Amorim has endured a torrid start to his Old Trafford tenure, losing six of his 11 games at the helm, including 5 of his last six in the Premier League to put them at risk of being pulled down into a relegation fight.

His job has been made harder by team news being leaked to the press before they play important matches, including the starting XI for their clash with Man City – the only game they’ve won in this recent horror run – which was leaked the night before Amad Diallo proved to be the hero at the Etihad.

Man Utd boss Amorim was unhappy that the team news had been linked, he commented: “I know that story, I think it is impossible to fix, you have a lot of people in the club, the players talk with agents, it is not a good thing.”

And The Sun claimed that Man Utd ‘launched an investigation into which player is leaking team news information’ and Amad Diallo and Garnacho – who was left out of the United squad on derby day – were ‘quizzed by new boss Ruben Amorim as to whether they are responsible’.

The report added:

‘Garnacho’s brother Roberto had been accused on social media of being one source.

‘Team news has leaked in the past when Alejandro has been left out.

‘Roberto denied last week that he is the mole.’

The Sun continued:

‘Amorim is satisfied neither Amad or Garnacho are involved directly in the leaking.’

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But while Amorim quite rightly focuses on other things – like his team being terrible – the Daily Mail claim the players have refused to let the matter go, turning into ‘super-sleuths’ to find the mole, and they now apparently ‘know who is to blame’.

The report states:

‘The recent team leaks at Manchester United certainly caught the imagination of the players, who had their own ideas about who the mole was.

‘While head coach Ruben Amorim tried to play down the situation that had been brewing behind the scenes at Old Trafford, his players had turned into super-sleuths in an effort to identify the culprit.

‘Indeed, Mail Sport has been contacted by a number of representatives of players, following conversations with their clients, claiming to know who is to blame.’