“If we try to bring one player…” Amorim gives clear message on January transfer plans, suggests there’s a big surprise in store

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has hinted that he will make a January signing, but it will not necessarily be in the position everyone might imagine. Amorim was speaking in the embargoed section of the pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s trip to face Aston Villa at Villa Park. The first question of this section was “Obviously, you’re going to be looking to sign new players, maybe in January, maybe in the summer. Do you feel you need to bring in players who can deliver that? Do you need to sign big characters? Obviously, you were linked with Emi Martínez in the summer as well as Senne Lammens. Do you need some big characters to come in and maybe change the dressing room from the inside?” Amorim answered: “It’s hard to talk about always, first of all, about the future and then about the profound things here. I’m just focused on the next game. Let’s go step by step. We have a big match. We need to win. We need to try to find a way of playing because especially without Amad and Bryan, we lost some characteristics that is hard to find. Let’s focus on that and then we will see the rest.” The Kobbie Mainoo saga Like a pack of dogs with a bone, the reporters then dragged the subject back to the one that has dominated recent pressers: Kobbie Mainoo. Amorim was asked “What stands out about Kobbie Mainoo, his half brother, is that because you talk about the open door, your door’s always open, are you a bit disappointed or surprised that Kobbie hasn’t come to you and said, ‘Look, that’s happened. It’s nothing to do with me, boss. Basically, in essence, I just want to make sure you’re clear about that.’ Because while that’s not going on, that speaks about his character as well, Kobbie. Maybe he hasn’t got that in him to come and be proactive?” “Yeah, he’s a shy boy, but it’s not his responsibility,” Amorim said. “He’s responsible for his acts, and his act was to play well in the last game, so I’m just focused on that. Then I had the situation in Sporting that my brother wrote something in the internet, and I had to answer for that. My explanation is, he has his life, he has his opinion, he has nothing to do with me, so I will do the same with Kobbie.” “Kobbie needs to fight for his job. I think that is not a bad thing to be on the bench of Manchester United with 20 years old. I remember Ronaldo was on the bench, Rooney was on the bench sometimes, Veron was not playing. I remember all the history of Manchester United, and nobody didn’t fall. Let’s continue in trying to avoid the nonsense and the noise. Believe it or not, I just want to help the team to win and to help Kobbie to be a better player.” The next question was “Is that something you’re trying to cultivate then, this idea that actually there’s competition here?” “No, guys,” he retorted. “I’m not trying to say, Kobbie, you are a big player here, let’s put him on the bench to show something. No, what I’m saying is the opposite. I’m just not putting Kobbie sometimes because I understand that this is not the right guy to start a game. Maybe the next game, tomorrow, the next game he is going to start. If he plays well, he’s going to show everyone, this guy cannot take me from the team and I will be so happy.” “I don’t care. I don’t want to show nothing to anyone. I’m just saying that I’m trying to win games and to show to the players that if you do the things right, You will play no matter what the name. Thank you.” On Senne Lammens The subject turned to the goalkeeping situation. The reporter asked “You let in four goals on Monday, but I think it’s fair to say that Senne [Lammens] has played very, very well since he came into the team. Not his fault at all, of course. It could have worked out differently in the summer. You could have signed Martínez. Given how the season has gone so far, are you happy with the choice that you made?” “Guys, we are really happy with Senne,” he asserted. “We have a game against Aston Villa. I don’t want to comment anything else. Just focus on that. I’m really happy with the goalkeepers and I’m really happy to have Senne.” “Happy with how he’s doing so far” the reporter asked. “For sure,” he replied. On Jadon Sancho Tomorrow’s opponents are the temporary home of United loanee Jadon Sancho, which led a reporter to ask “Scott McTominay recently said today that he dismissed the narrative that players improve and their careers change for the better when they leave Man United. Would you say that Jadon Sancho’s situation proves that point and supports what McTominay is saying?” Amorim answered: “No, again, I don’t have nothing to say about that. Sancho is not our player in the moment. He’s playing for the opposition. He’s not going to play. He’s a very good player. I have nothing to say about that. If I’m going to comment everybody that speaks about something about Manchester United, I will not do anything else. I just want to try to win the game against Villa.” The boss was then asked if the club has told him there is money available if he wants to buy players in the January window. “We’ll see,” he replied. “The only thing that we know is that we only would try to bring players that we think that is going to be the future. It’s not going to be to save something in this moment, to cope with the losses of three players for AFCON. It’s not going to be like that. Even if we try to bring one player, maybe it’s not the position that we need more. We will try to bring now in the end of the season, players that are perfect for our future. I don’t know what is going to happen, but it’s possible that we can do something.” The final question was: “Just on the AFCON players, you’ll have maybe a shortage of wingbacks for the coming weeks. Do you have any plans to play players there who haven’t maybe played at wingback or Tyrell Malacia? I know we’ve not seen him since he’s come back into the sport.” Amorim replied “it depends on the way we play in that particular week. But if we have to change for back four, we change for back four. I was saving this one for now. Thank you, guys. Thank you.” Every word of the first part of the presser can be seen here. Featured image Alex Livesey 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 Red Billy Red Billy is the managing editor of The Peoples Person, author of three books and two magazines and totally obsessed with football’s transfer market. Billy first saw United live in 1971, watching George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, before becoming a League Match ticket book holder from 1975/76 and a writer since 1995. Billy still insists Matteo Darmian and Alex Telles could have made it at United given half a chance.