Romano Claims Amorim Was “Prepared” To Do Something He Has Never Done To Clinch Semenyo Deal

BACK David Tully Dec 26th 2025 Man Utd head coach Ruben Amorim was “prepared” to change his system in order to accommodate Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo, according to journalist Fabrizio Romano The Red Devils boss has been wedded to his 3-4-2-1 system since he arrived at Old Trafford last year, but speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano claimed that Amorim was willing to do everything he could to bring Semenyo to the club, but it still didn’t stop their Manchester rivals from winning the battle: “Man City believe they won this crazy race. The reaction from Man Utd is, ‘We tried our best’. Man Utd made their best effort, be it tactical or financial. td made a very important financial offer to Semenyo. They pushed like crazy. They were even prepared to change the system to welcome Semenyo.” “But Ruben Amorim indicated that he only wants players who want to be at Manchester United, who want to wear the shirt, ‘We don’t want players who are not convinced’. Even last summer, with Viktor Gyokeres, get Champions League football, no Champions League football, United [said] okay, so game over [from Utd’s perspective].” Semenyo was being lined up for a different role It had been initially reported that Amorim wanted the 25-year-old to play as a wingback, but that probably didn’t go down too well with the player, who has only ever played as a winger or a forward. For that reason, it is likely that United changed tactics in negotiations, promising Semenyo that the system would be changed so he could play in his best position. Ultimately, though, that wasn’t even enough to sway him. Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool have seemingly failed in their attempts as well. Will Man Utd pursue another winger? It’s unlikely that the Red Devils will go after another forward in January. Semenyo would have been an opportunistic move. Amorim was known to be a big admirer of the Ghanaian international, having previously described him as a “special” player, and the existence of the £65m release clause made it a tempting deal. The recruitment team’s focus is now expected to return to the top priority, which is signing a central midfielder to strengthen Amorim’s options in that area. Want more news on Man Utd? Add Man U News as a preferred source on Google David Tully David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for the Football News Network.