Manchester United hired Ruben Amorim for his brilliance at Sporting CP, but things were not always perfect for the Portuguese genius at the Jose Alvalade Stadium.
When the 40-year-old head coach took charge of Sporting, they were in an all-time slump and hadn’t won a league crown in 19 years.
Under Ruben Amorim’s management, this all changed as they once again became the premier force in Portuguese football by winning two titles in four seasons.
This drastic change did not simply happen overnight, with Sporting CP putting in a lot of work to give Amorim the squad that he needed to challenge. This did not entail massive spending, with Amorim handing out 27 academy debuts at Sporting, something that will have attracted Ineos initially.
Manchester United are in a similar situation to when Amorim took charge of Sporting – no title in 12 years and a giant fallen from grace.
So, considering Amorim has proven before he can turn this situation around, it is up to Ineos to do him a favour and follow Sporting’s example from the first summer he was in charge.
Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images
Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images
How Sporting Lisbon drastically changed the squad for Ruben Amorim
Back in the summer of 2020, Amorim had his first transfer window as Sporting boss, in which the club hierarchy backed him completely with a huge turnover of players.
The Portuguese side let 25 players leave the club that summer, which cleared out an underperforming squad and allowed youth and new signings to inject life into the team under Amorim, which quickly led to a league title.
More United News
Every Sporting departure 2020/21
Player Destination Transfer sum
Wendel Zenit S-Pb £16.9m
Marcos Acuña Sevilla FC £9.3m
Matheus Pereira West Brom £6.8m
Luciano Vietto Al-Hilal £5.8m
Cristián Borja SC Braga £2.5m
Stefan Ristovski Dinamo Zagreb £833k
Gelson Rio Ave £312k
Valentin Rosier Besiktas Loan fee: £166k
Miguel Luís Vit. Guimarães free transfer
Alan Ruiz Arsenal Sarandí free transfer
Chico Geraldes Rio Ave free transfer
Tiago Ilori FC Lorient loan transfer
Ivanildo Fernandes UD Almería loan transfer
Josip Misic Dinamo Zagreb loan transfer
Abdoulay Diaby RSC Anderlecht loan transfer
Abdoulay Diaby Getafe loan transfer
Idrissa Doumbia SD Huesca loan transfer
Mattheus Coritiba FC loan transfer
Pedro Mendes UD Almería loan transfer
Eduardo Henrique Crotone loan transfer
Rodrigo Battaglia Alavés loan transfer
Pedro Mendes Nacional loan transfer
Bruno Gaspar Vancouver loan transfer
Rafael Camacho Rio Ave loan transfer
Andraz Sporar SC Braga loan transfer
Such a radical overhaul allows a manager to make the team his own very quickly instead of having Erik ten Hag’s squad, in Amorim’s case.
Therefore, Ineos must be looking at how Sporting managed to complete their turn around, and follow the example already set this summer by being ruthless and building a team made for Amorim.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has already given Amorim unconditional support, and this summer, he can prove it with his actions by giving Wilcox and Amorim the keys to rebuild the squad as they see fit with plenty of young talents linked with arriving.
Who will be casualties of Manchester United’s rebuild?
With the rebuild likely to commence this summer, United could look very different come September 1st. It is expected that the club could see at least 10 players depart United this summer.
But who could fall victim as Ineos get brutal with their axing this summer?
Antony – Sell
Casemiro – Sell
Christian Eriksen – Released
Jonny Evans – Released
Tom Heaton – Released
Rasmus Hojlund – Sell
Victor Lindelof – Released
Tyrell Malacia – Sell
Andre Onana – Sell
Marcus Rashford – Sell
Jadon Sancho – Sell
Luke Shaw – Sell
When tallying up all the players who have been linked with exiting this summer for various reasons, it is quite a substantial amount of players with 12 – all of which are out of Amorim’s plans or not good enough.
A clear out of this magnitude is not out of the question for United, with eight of the 12 listed looking very likely to happen. Let’s hope Ineos take this seriously, and perhaps next season will see a United more like the one fans grew up watching.