For the seventh time in less than 13 years, Manchester United is back on the market looking for a new manager. Ruben Amorim was surprisingly fired this Monday (5/1), one day after the 1-1 draw with Leeds United, in the Premier League.
The result left the Red Devils in sixth place after 20 rounds, behind Chelsea on goal difference and just three points behind Liverpool, in fourth place. Considering that the club’s aim is to return to the Champions League, the position in the table did not, at first glance, seem disastrous.
Behind the scenes, however, the scenario was much more troubled. Amorim’s press conference after the game against Leeds was considered decisive. In an inflamed tone, the Portuguese suggested internal problems and hinted, more than once, that he would leave the club at the end of his contract, in June 2027.
Less than 24 hours later, The Athletic reported that the coach had been fired — information officially confirmed later. Interestingly, three months earlier, minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe had stated that Amorim needed at least three years to show work.
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Who will be the next Manchester United manager?
Even though the departure is still recent, Manchester United is already moving to define a replacement. The name that appears as a favorite is that of Oliver Glasnercurrent coach of Crystal Palace. The 51-year-old Austrian appears at the forefront in different surveys in the English press and also in bookmakers.
Other options monitored by the club include Enzo Maresca, recently fired from Chelsea, as well as Laurent Blanc, Xavi Hernández and Gareth Southgate, all currently without a club.
The club’s under-18s coach and former player Darren Fletcher has been placed in charge on an interim basis, and he will both line up and lead the team for Wednesday’s Premier League clash with Burnley.
According to journalist David Ornstein, from the website “The Athletic”, Manchester United will probably wait until the end of the season to name a permanent replacement for Amorim.
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Ruben Amorim’s United
The main problem for Amorim is that his toughest speech came at a moment of fragility. Demanding full support is usually acceptable when the results appear — which was not the case. In 14 months in office, performance was well below expectations.
Under the Portuguese’s command, United won just 15 of the 47 games played in the Premier League. According to data from Opta, Amorim had the worst record of victories (32%), the highest average number of goals conceded per match (1.53) and the lowest percentage of games without conceding goals (15%) among all the club’s permanent coaches in the Premier League era.
It took almost 12 months for the team to achieve two consecutive victories in the championship, something that only happened in October, against Sunderland, Liverpool and Brighton. After that, United did not win two consecutive matches again.
15th place in the 2024/25 season was the worst in the club’s history since the start of the Premier League. In this edition, the team scored just seven points in the first six rounds, its worst start since 1992/93.
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