Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has branded Dan Ashworth's exit from Old Trafford "a bad situation", with the Portuguese quizzed on the situation ahead of Thursday's Europa League clash with Viktoria Plzen.
The Red Devils announced on Sunday that Ashworth had left his role as sporting director, just five months after arriving at the club, with his relationship with CEO Omar Berrada said to have been strained.
Man United have allegedly decided against bringing in a replacement for Ashworth, with technical director Jason Wilcox set to take on a bigger role alongside Sir Dave Brailsford, who is the director of sport at INEOS.
Ashworth is believed to have been against Amorim arriving as Erik ten Hag's replacement, with Gareth Southgate said to have been identified by the sporting director as the ideal man to lead the club forward.
Amorim opened up on the situation when speaking to the media during Wednesday's press conference, as Man United prepare to continue their Europa League campaign against Viktoria Plzen.
"The first thing I want to say since the first day I felt great support from the ownership, from Omar, from them also, from Jason (Wilcox), and Dan was part of that," Amorim told reporters. "And I really, really, really [received] support from Dan also.
Manchester United's sporting director Dan Ashworth on July 1, 2024© Imago
Man United announced Ashworth's departure on Sunday
"But this is football and sometimes this happens, happens with players, with coaches, I know it's not the best situation but the important thing is we continue in our way. The path is really clear for everybody and I think this can happen in football.
"Of course, it's a bad situation. Like I said, we are talking about a human being, a professional, that supports us as a team but I think the most important thing is the vision is really clear and that don't change if one person leaves.
"No, I don't think so [that there were disagreements]. I cannot tell you about the vision at just a press conference but we want to take this club to winning the Premier League and to be an elite club like this club should be.
"In this way we have to make changes because of the context. I don't know, you could change the coach, because you don't have results you could change the coach.
"So you can have a vision but sometimes you make a slight change of direction to find the same goal, so this could happen in football, we are focused on winning the Premier League, that is the main goal."
Man United will be aiming to bounce back from successive losses to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest when they continue their Europa League campaign against their Czech opponents on Thursday night.
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