Ruben Amorim must overhaul his Manchester United squad this summer
Ruben Amorim’s fanatical commitment to the Red Devils fitting his style means his side have only a single Premier League win since his appointment against teams that aren’t part of the worst crop of promoted sides in the history of the division.
Manchester United’s problems can be boiled down to two albeit major issues - the system and the players - though Amorim, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and technical director Jason Wilcox will hope that signing the right players can make the former Sporting manager’s system work as effectively as it did in Portugal.
AI gave Manchester United a budget of £100-170 million depending on player sales and revenue from European football, so how did it suggest spending that money?
AI backs Manchester United for £180m summer splurge
Manchester United have splashed the budget of a medium-sized space program attempting to upgrade their forward line in recent years, with the likes of Rasmus Hojlund, Antony, Joshua Zirkzee and Jadon Sancho providing negligible return on investment.
So it looks like Jim Ratcliffe may need to sell Carrington Training Ground and get the team training in the Old Trafford car park if AI’s prediction of a summer spending spree on strikers is to be believed. It reckons Manchester United will active Viktor Gyökeres and Liam Delap’s £84 million and £30 million release clauses in order to get the goals flowing freely once again.
Gyökeres already has more goals in English football than Manchester United’s two most expensive signings combined, and had hit 23 in only the opening three months of the Portuguese season before Amorim left to take over at Old Trafford. Since then, the Red Devils have combined for 33 a miserly Premier League goals in half a year.
Liam Delap also took the road less travelled to becoming a star signing of arguably the biggest club in English football, after failing to impress on loan from Manchester City at Stoke City and Preston North End.
However, a dynamite stint at Hull last season returned eight goals including one against Ipswich and the Tractor Boys needed no second invitation to sign him up for their return to the Premier League.
AI suggested Matheus Cunha as an alternative, and also hinted at a £50m swoop for the versatile Eduardo Camavinga as Amorim will be desperate to improve his stocks in the wide channels, while £19m Rayan Cherki’s attacking intent on the ball at Lyon has attracted attention.
Amorim’s Sporting thrived on take-ons and it’s perhaps no surprise that Amad Diallo had been Manchester United’s biggest break-out star this campaign as such. Now imagine he and Cherki firing the ball into a dead-eye finisher like Gyokeres and the future starts to look a little rosier.
However, AI had little answer for improving Manchester United behind the forward line. As an alternative to Camavinga, it suggested Sunderland’s Chris Rigg as a potential £25-40m addition.
Rigg is undoubtedly talented but at just 17 years old, he’s unlikely to be able to resurrect such a large fallen giant single-handedly. So while AI may provide a more coherent purchasing strategy than Manchester United have pursued in recent years, it clearly doesn’t have all the answers.
AI predicts Rashford to headline 11-man exodus
With Ratcliffe in control of the purse strings, AI expects a significant portion of Manchester United’s transfer budget to come from player sales and it listed 11 players who could help foot the bill.
Antony and Rashford’s revivals after escaping Old Trafford on loan make them obvious contenders for United to cash in on - with the latter also counting as pure profit in Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules as an academy graduate.
AI perhaps optimistically listed a £32.5m price tag on Antony that would be a club record if Real Betis want to keep him in Seville, while Aston Villa hold an option to buy Rashford for £40m - though they’re already set to splash out on making Marco Asensio’s switch from Paris to Birmingham permanent.
Chelsea may have to pay £5m to avoid their obligation to Sancho and keep him at Old Trafford but AI suggested that will still be money well spent, and highlighted Tyrell Malacia, Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee as potential departures alongside the aging Casemiro, Christian Eriksen, Jonny Evans, Victor Lindelof, Tom Heaton and… Mason Greenwood?
Manchester United have made some head-scratching transfers but that would be a new level.
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