Sporting CP striker Viktor Gyokeres has claimed that he and his teammates felt invincible under Ruben Amorim.
The Portuguese coach has endured a dismal start to his Manchester United career as his side sit 16th in the table with just one match left to play.
The Red Devils also lost the Europa League final last night to Tottenham Hotspur to dampen the mood further at Old Trafford.
United’s lack of firepower was on full display last night as despite dominating the ball, they never really looked like scoring outside a couple of late last throws of the dice.
Amorim has prioritised the signing of a new striker and one name he has been frequently linked to is his former forward at Sporting, Gyokeres.
The Swede has fuelled speculation of a move further by waxing lyrical over the manager’s time at the José Alvalade Stadium.
Speaking to Portuguese paper A Bola he reflected on his side’s fantastic start to the season under Amorim where they won 11 from 11 matches.
When asked if his team felt invincible under the United coach he claimed, “yeah, I think when we’re in that kind of moment where we keep winning we go in with the same mentality as every game and we keep doing the same things and with the same rhythm. That’s what we felt when we went to the games.”
The striker doubted whether the team could have gone unbeaten in the league if Amorim had stayed but did state, “of course, we always have the mentality of wanting to win every game, but as we have seen in football, it doesn’t always end that way. I think it’s very difficult to go an entire season without losing a single game, as you can see in history, I think few teams have done that.”
Opening up on his feelings around Amorim’s departure he said, “of course it was something that we, as a group of players, didn’t want. Obviously, as you said, we were flying and winning every game in the league and doing well in the Champions League as well.”
Elaborating further he stated, “it was of course a sad time, but we completely understood his decision and there were no hard feelings. We talked to him and all the players. It was all very clear and there were no hard feelings.”
United are reported to be very keen to sign the 53 goal striker this summer but no European football could certainly be a deal breaker for the Swede, despite his obvious admiration of Amorim.
What’s more, it is unclear what sort of budget the team will have and whether they could afford to pull off a blockbuster signing like Gyokeres, even if he wanted to come.
Featured image Gualter Fatia via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
