Rebuilding for Amorim
How to rebuild culture and not get relegated in 11 steps (Number 7 will shock you)
Being a Manchester United fan for the last decade has been, at best… mentally taxing.
We’ve all had a front row seat to watch everything we love about Manchester United get ripped away, slowly but surely, drip by drip from the Old Trafford roof. The 5th highest revenue for a club in World Football, yet the club can’t afford to run itself due to the crippling debts the owners, The Glazer Family, have forced upon it. (They’re still the owners by the way, they aren’t gone yet).
Our iconic stadium’s roof is falling apart, but so is the culture of Manchester United. Multi-Billionaire ownership rips jobs away from loyal staff, tears away their opportunities to enjoy their jobs, whether through not running a Christmas Party or not allowing them free, safe access to the FA Cup Final back in May of last year.
On the pitch, the squad has never felt less like a Manchester United one. The Academy player-base which once was the foundation of the club’s success has now become a way for the club to make easy money to please those overlooking Profit and Sustainability and Financial Fair Play rules. Those that have managed to stick around are attacked by the press, “Fan Channels” looking to make a quick buck off of fan misery, and misguided fans searching for an easy target to shove their blame upon.
The players feel utterly disconnected from their fans. The only times I’ve ever heard of the fans in Old Trafford booing players before the booing of Joshua Zirkzee on the night of the 30th of December 2024, I was present at them.
Wayne Rooney was booed onto the pitch as a substitute on the 20th of November 2010 after handing in a transfer request the previous month.
Then Paul Pogba was booed off the pitch after a 3-2 win over Norwich in April of 2022.
On both of these occasions, the fans ire was utterly misguided. Rooney had handed in his requested over a well perceived lack of ambition from the club in order to force them into action so that United’s success could continue. The club had replaced Cristiano Ronaldo with stars like… Gabriel Obertan and… eh… Bebé. Hardly names in lights. And the penny pinching continued, but on a much lesser level afterwards, as the club signed Ashley Young to take that left-wing berth in the next summer window.
With Pogba, United fans perceived a lack of effort and care from the player, given his agent, Mino Raiola, had been shopping him in basically every international window that season. Facts are, despite dealing with serious injuries, playing out of position constantly, and being in a pretty horrible team, Pogba had 9 assists that season. That’s more than any player not named Bruno Fernandes has had since.
We’ve flown a bit off topic, but my main point here is that Manchester United are in desperate need of a rebuild at all levels. Financially, culturally, on the pitch, in the dressing room, and morally. The simplest of those rebuilds should be on the pitch, but that will be hampered by the lack of financial manoeuvrability.
Despite that, and despite not knowing what kind of finances the club are going to have access to over the next while, I’m going to go position-by-position through the United squad and tell you who I think can improve the team. In some areas I will opt for young players who may not be the immediate fix in an area but could become it over time. In some areas I will select players performing well in high leagues, ready for the next step up to a big club. Finally, I may also opt for veterans that United could bring in to help improve club culture.
With one final point on club culture before we begin, I believe Manchester United now have the perfect manager to rebuild that culture for a new era of success. Ruben Amorim already has experience of taking a big club back from the brink of death to triumph once again, as he did so at his previous club, Sporting CP. Tifo Football broke it down better than I ever could, so here’s the link:
Anyway, on to the squad.
Goalkeeper
Andre Onana has had a difficult time of it as Manchester United’s No. 1 Goalkeeper (even though he wears 24, which I really hate). Despite a statistically great season in the Premier League last year, his European form was largely shocking, which has painted a false image of the Cameroonian and forced the club to start looking elsewhere. His form this season has not helped.
While I like Andre, I can’t help but think he isn’t the long-term solution in the position. His talents have diminished while playing here, with his signature passing abilities being shown as severely lacking in recent times. It may be time to move on in the next season or two, as United look for their next De Gea or Van Der Sar rather than a Fabien Barthez.
It’s already been communicated to the media that No. 2 and No. 3, Altay Bayindir and Tom Heaton, will be moving on this summer, so who do United bring in to replace them?
My personal choices if we’re going for immediate competition with Onana would be Matej Kovar of Bayer Leverkusen, and Zion Suzuki of Parma.
Kovar was sold last summer (2022/23) to Leverkusen after a wonderful season on loan to league winning Sparta Prague, and has been quietly playing very solidly for them ever since, albeit as a rotation for true starter Lukas Hradecky.
Kovar rates inside the 90th percentile for clean sheets, but the worry is that is PSxG-GA isn’t very high, so he may not cope well if not behind a solid, consistent defence. I have been a major proponent of Kovar all the way back since before he was sold, and would love to see him brought back to the club, as United have a buyback clause they can use.
Zion Suzuki is 22 years old and was notably scouted by the club after we signed Onana back in 2022, likely to be brought in as Onana’s understudy. The Japanese national opted against joining United and stayed at Urawa Red Diamonds in Japan, before a loan with Sint-Truiden and a transfer to Parma brought him to Europe.
Now that Suzuki has had his breakout in Europe, maybe it’s time to put another offer in and see if he’s willing to provide competition for Onana again.
In terms of a 3rd keeper, they’re never all that important, so either Radek Vitek or an older plyer to help out squad harmony and chemistry. I hear a certain 35 year old Spaniard has his contract up… (Nah but seriously, just sign Muslera or Szczesny or something)
Defence
Not gonna lie, this is for the most part going to be a lot of me shit talking the previous leadership of this club, especially Ten Hag.
Whoever the idiot was who decided to get rid of Willy Kambwala will face hell on my behalf some day. Our LCB depth issues for this season would just not be present. It frustrates me to no end that academy talent has been sacrificed in recent years, and I hope this ends soon.
The reality of United’s situation is that they don’t have the money to throw at problems, so they’ll need to find it from within. Personally, I’m praying for the rise of the serious talents we have in the academy in this area over the next year. Harry Amass to take over from Luke Shaw at LB/LWB. Godwill Kukonki to take the step and at least become a rotation piece. Ogunneye or Jackson to step up. Something.
In terms of outside sources, Jarrad Branthwaite is still in the sights of the club for LCB long-term, and will be a great, but expensive, signing. Victor Lindelof will almost certainly be moving on, as, likely, will be the injury-prone duo on the left side of our 5 at the back.
There are options on the Free Agent market, which I’ve been crying out for years for the club to use, but to no avail. Maybe this will be the year, as the much linked Alphonso Davies would suit incredibly at LWB. Kyle Walker-Peters and Ola Aina would be good signings if Diogo Dalot was to move on as is rumoured, and players like Stefan De Vrij and Mats Hummels are available if the club feel they need experience.
The view of this writer is that Amad Diallo should be pushed back into RWB for the forseeable future, Dalot should be sold if a great offer comes in, and Ola Aina should be signed for RWB. If Branthwaite is brought in as expected, The LWB issue should hopefully be solved by an ambitious Alphonso Davies signing (a must) and the elevation of Harry Amass after (hopefully) an impressive loan to end this season.
Nuno Mendes is also linked with the club this January.
He is statistically impressive, but the club should only opt for this move if it’s at the same kind of cost as Mazraoui was. Otherwise, look elsewhere.
Midfield
The key to unlocking Manchester United’s future in the near and long-term future is finding a partner for Kobbie Mainoo. This summer, the club hoped it had found one in Manuel Ugarte, but it seems so far the the Uruguayan lacks the necessary creativity to be the man in that space.
United again should be left rueing missed chances because of ridiculous academy player sales here, as James Garner should really be a rotation piece in this team still, as should Scott McTominay.
This is not going to be a problem solved in one window, so it may just be best to find depth for the short-term in the form of a hard-running ball-winner like Ugarte, and also some depth to replace the likely losses of both Casemiro and Eriksen.
There are options in the academy thanks to recent and long-term investments, with Sékou Koné looking very promising. I pray Dan Gore gets a chance at some stage. Can’t forget about the junior Fletchers, along with Jayce Fitzgerald and Jacob Devaney also, but they’re all a while away yet.
Éderson of Atalanta has been linked a tonne throughout this season, especially recently, and will likely be the main focus of funds in our next summer window.
He certainly seems to fit the mould of what we need in there. All action, progressive passing, creative, but also capable of doing the hard work defensively. Issue is, he’ll be expensive, and there are no guarantees we can afford an outlay for him.
So who to go for if not Éderson? Well, looking at the list of upcoming free agents, some names align fairly well on what we may need, even just as short-term, single season investments. Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, for example, has been a storming success for Napoli in recent years, and the 29 Year Old compares even better statistically than Éderson does in terms of creativity.
If you’re looking for pure defensive ability as depth, someone who’ll just run around and win the ball back for fun, someone to add some height and presence to the team, and someone who has already proved himself at Premier League level, why not have a word in the ear of the agent of Christian Nørgaard at Brentford?
Honestly, I’d have a good look at all three of them if possible. They’ll all raise the floor of the team, at the very least.
Attack
There are a myriad of things you can do with this area of the team over the next few years, but as whole, the players in these positions (I’m including the 10s here) need to step up.
This season has been the season of Amad Diallo thusfar, and I’m delighted to see him step up. I hope Garnacho, Hojlund and Zirkzee can find their way to joining him, but that might not happen for Zirkzee, who may be on the way out given Amorim don’t see him as a 9, and "M**k G********e” doesn’t see him as a human being.
In terms of established players, despite all the noise, Marcus Rashford has been one of our better players in attack, with 10 goal contributions thusfar. Bruno Fernandes has had a down year, and will need to learn to play with some calm in order to keep playing for the club, otherwise they may opt to make some money off of him sooner rather than later. I hope both can find their form again, as I personally have a close connection to them both.
Back again to focus on what we’ve lost, United should be starting Anthony Elanga nearly every week right now, but Erik wouldn’t rotate him in and played Antony ahead of him, so he’s tearing things up for Nottingham Forest now…
With of improvements to what we do have, the options are everywhere.
In the Academy, there’s Chido Obi Martin, Shea Lacey, Amir Ibragimov, Bendito Mantato, Victor Musa, and more, and at least two of those young stars are guaranteed to find their way into the senior setup in the next 2 years, but that’s still a while to wait.
With Free Agents, Angel Gomes must be on the list to come back to United, given he has always said he wanted to make his way back here eventually. He would be an excellent addition. Always worth mentioning that I would love to see Adama Traore in Red (and I’m sure, still slathered in baby oil) too.
With purchases, there are only two names I’m going to mention here:
Bryan Mbeumo
I’ve been saying for two years that Bryan Mbeumo is ready for a big move, and now is the time to really push for that move. He’s only 24 and has room to grow even further despite already being a very good footballer. He’s in his Sadio Mané at Southampton era, and needs to make his jump to a contender. We need to make that contender Manchester United
Samu Aghehowa
When Samu moved from Athletico Madrid to Porto this summer for just €15m, I was genuinely annoyed.
First of all, how could Diego Simeone let this MONSTER out of his grips for such a measly fee. Secondly, how did MY TEAM not sign him for that fee, or anyone else for that matter??? It was ridiculously cheap then and it’s outrageous now.
Samu is a *presence* on the pitch. Strong on the ball and in the air, deceptively quick for his size, and his desire to get the ball is something you only truly see in the greats.
Get him before someone else does, for the love of all that is unholy.
So, that’s my piece on who I think United should target in the current rebuilding stage we’re in. Truly, the club needs to look hard at that Free Agent market and bring in some players that won’t mess too much with PSR. They’re there, they will improve us, just go get them.
This is the first Occasional Opinions of 2025, and hopefully there will be many more as I get back to writing this year.
Subscribe (for free) if you enjoyed, and I hope to get some words into your peepers again soon. Happy New Year!