Ruben Amorim isn't exactly talking like someone who expects to be around for the long haul at Manchester United. Barely a press conference goes by without the 40-year-old raising the spectre of his future in some description, and he didn't miss a beat when previewing Sunday's Old Trafford showdown with Arsenal.
On paper at least, there are similarities between what Amorim is doing at [United](https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/all-about/manchester-united-fc) now and what opposite number Mikel Arteta did at Arsenal. Both are trying to clear the decks, essentially, and while Amorim is seeking to transform the tactical structure, they both wanted to overhaul the culture at clubs that had forgotten how to win.
Arteta survived plenty of scares at the Emirates before building a team ready to challenge for the title, if not quite get over the line yet. He always seemed to have the support of the executives above him, who could see that the short-term pain would pay off in the end.
But Amorim gave those comparisons relatively short shrift. While he hailed the way Arteta transformed Arsenal as "an inspiration", his view that he won't get the same time the Spaniard got was the latest indication that he feels at least that his job security is already flaky.
“I don’t feel that. I will not have the time Arteta had. I feel that. It’s a different club,” said Amorim. "So we just need to survive with the players on Sunday and we are doing these games.
“I think it’s a different club \[to Arsenal\]. I think in that aspect the way Arteta dealt with that is an inspiration for everybody but I will not have the time like Arteta had.”
Since succeeding Erik ten Hag in November, Amorim has won just 10 of his 25 games in charge. A dismal run of form in the Premier League has left United in 14th place with their domestic season over at the start of March.
But there has been no suggestion that Amorim's job is under scrutiny, and there is a feeling he is protected this season by the demands of taking over mid-season and trying to introduce a new system and playing style with a squad ill-suited to those demands. Amorim had requested to start the job this summer when United approached Sporting but was told it was now or never if he wanted to fill the Old Trafford hot seat.
He has already been backed in the January transfer window, with Marcus Rashford driven out amid a stand-off over his standards and £25million spent on the first specialist signed for Amorim's system, wing-back Patrick Dorgu.
That hasn't stopped Amorim from raising his future fairly regularly, and he has done so twice this week alone. The first time came when Wayne Rooney labelled the Portuguese "naive" in expressing that the aim was to win the Premier League title.
“Our goal is to win the Premier League,” he said. “Maybe it is not with me. But our goal, as a club, the board, is to win the Premier League like we did in the past with all the great glories and legends of this club.”
Speaking to Sky Sports a few days later, he said: “I don’t know if I’m going to be here, but the way we are thinking, we are going to return and we are going to win in the future."
A large part of this is Amorim just being honest. His future could come into question at some point if results continue at this level, but then there is faith above that they won't, that when Amorim has a full pre-season to work with the players and bring new ones in, improvements will be clear.
United also lack the resources to keep making managerial changes. They are wedded to Amorim and cannot easily untangle themselves from his ideology, especially if they back him to the hilt this summer.
In that sense, it is unusual to hear the man himself being so coy about his future. He has felt the pressure of a dreadful run at United, and if he didn't understand the spotlight he was going to be under before taking the job, he certainly does now.
There is no expectation that he will be the one to decide he no longer wants to be at Old Trafford, but it is questionable whether being quite so honest about his future is a good long-term strategy. It makes it harder to get buy-in from players who hear their head coach talk in such a downbeat manner after less than four months in charge.
There is no reason why Amorim won't get the same time as Arteta, as long as he can show the same signs of progress that the Arsenal board saw at the time. Despite results this season, United's decision-makers still see Amorim's upside. He just needs to see the upside in himself and start to talk with more conviction about his long-term plans at the club.