Amorim is preparing for his first full season at United
Amorim is preparing for his first full season at United
A Premier League footballer was once so determined to have a night out after a game that his gopher was primed at the airport for the team's return from an evening match so he could be ferried into the city centre as soon as possible.
Later that evening, the well-known player, drink in hand and clad in diamonds, was in a nightclub stood on a table with a microphone in hand. His team had only drawn earlier in the day.
In Moneyball, Brad Pitt's Billy Beane takes a dim view of the Oakland A's first baseman Jeremy Giambi dancing on a table to Give Up The Funk. After instructing Giambi to get back down to earth, Beane aggressively asks, "Is losing fun?"
"No," Giambi eventually mutters.
"What are you having fun for?"
A few scenes later, Giambi is traded. Jonah Hill's Peter Brand, Beane's assistant and sole ally, is aghast: "What are you doing?"
"Cleaning house."
Ruben Amorim is not the only recent United manager who might have watched Moneyball and noticed parallels. Like Pitt, Amorim likes to hit the gym. He is also about to clean the house.
Those who know Amorim are struck by how stubborn he is. "He never changes," a confidant said. "He will die with his idea."
Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, Jadon Sancho and Antony all have to go. Sancho does not have a squad number, Antony is not an option for printing on the club's online store and Rashford is expected to have his number 10 revoked and reassigned to Matheus Cunha. Amorim told Garnacho he can go.
Last week, Rashford's Instagram account uploaded a two-week itinerary for June. Nine out of 14 days were tagged 'Gym, pitch'. Pitching for a new club.
Young United fans have idolised Rashford and many still do. He was not as domineering a presence as Paul Pogba during the club's player-power period or indulged as much as Anthony Martial, which made his transgressions under Amorim and Erik ten Hag - after the latter had restored authority to the United manager's role - so disappointing.
Rashford knows he does not have a route back at United with Amorim in charge
After Sir Alex Ferguson did a U-turn and delayed his retirement in 2002, a United player turned to Dwight Yorke, in exile but optimistic ahead of the apparently impending managerial change. "That's you f*****d, Yorkie." Yorke laughed. Rashford knows there is no route back at United with Amorim in charge.
Ten Hag stood up to Cristiano Ronaldo, so Sancho was always going to be small-fry after he publicly accused the Dutchman of lying. Hardly any teammates sympathised with Sancho and urged him to reoncile with Ten Hag. He never did.
Amorim looked bemused when he was incongruously asked in February whether Sancho could have a future at United. "Jadon Sancho is not my problem." He is now.
United need £14.58m to avoid a loss on Sancho under the Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules. It was amusing, for a while, that Chelsea had agreed an obligation to pay up to £25m for Sancho until someone at Stamford Bridge reached for a calculator.
More than £150m not well spent
Antony, La Liga-worthy and back in the Brazil squad, has a higher resale value than Sancho but only a handful of clubs would be in the market for the winger and have the financial wherewithal to hit the magic £32.52m mark. Antony has created a market for himself but United may have to tolerate another season-long loan, burnished by a loan fee and an obligation or option to buy.
Of the four forwards in the departures' lounge, Garnacho is the most regrettable. He could not see the wood for the trees in the days leading up to the Europa League final, despite the giveaway that he would be benched when he was named as a substitute five days beforehand at Chelsea. That marked the first time he had been benched for successive games since January.
Garnacho came on at 0-0, defended fecklessly for Marc Cucurella's winner, was rollocked by Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire and still got his hair bleached on the eve of the final. He very deliberately remained on the San Mames pitch, chewing the fat with Sergio Reguilon, as the United team was announced with all of his teammates were in the dressing room.
Garnacho was moody on the post-season tour
Most United punters would have started Garnacho against Tottenham. That he didn't does not excuse his post-match petulance. Speaking in his native tongue, he cast doubt on his future.
It felt telling that in the United corporate section for the semi-final at Athletic Bilbao, the only players whose agents were visibly present were Garnacho's and Kobbie Mainoo's. Garnacho's representatives, Enrique de Lucas and Carlos Cambeiro, appear to have been largely useless in advising their client on his social media etiquette. They made everyone aware they were at Chelsea in January when the club considered bidding for Garnacho.
Garnacho all but confirmed his bench berth hours before the Europa League final with a passive aggressive post of his FA Cup final goal. He was at it again when United touched down in Manchester after the tempestuous post-season tour. Garnacho uploaded a picture of the Manchester Airport tarmac with the word "Finally", accompanied by crying-with-laughter and praying emojis. Whenever he grows up, it will be away from United.
Garnacho: not a fan of post-season tours
De Lucas and Cambeiro have allowed Garnacho's sense of entitlement to inflate. He and other puerile teammates had to be told to stop raising their middle fingers for photographs in Kuala Lumpur.
Garnacho left the Bukit Jalil National Stadium with sunglasses on at gone 11.30pm at night. He blanked everyone as he strolled through the mixed zone and he looked downright miserable when ordered to fulfil meet-and-greet duties post-match in Hong Kong.
Pogba revelled in Jose Mourinho's sacking on Twitter and was never disciplined. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was well-liked by United players but they also found him to be a soft touch. He had a tendency to squirm whenever the topic turned to Pogba.
Pogba was often a problem
Rashford's working relationship with Solskjaer was not as rosy towards the end and he was particularly dismayed by the handling of his shoulder injury towards the end of the 2020-21 season. Solskjaer also sensed a shift in Rashford's demeanour amid a nationwide love-in over his free school meals campaign.
United could not have foresawn Rashford's form nosediving after a career-best season but there were red flags. An antagonistic story the day after he was benched for the Manchester derby in March 2022, his brother's public dalliance with Paris Saint-Germain and a significant change to his entourage.
Dwaine Maynard, Rashford's brother, also rejoiced in Mourinho's misfortune on social media, deriding his reaction to a Rashford miss the day after Rashford netted a matchwinning double against Mourinho's Tottenham Hotspur.
When Beane trades Giambi in Moneyball, the conversation lasts 23 seconds. Some of United's planned departees do not merit a goodbye as long as that.