Manchester United go into their first full season under Ruben Amorim with the manager selecting 6 players to form a leadership group to assist captain Bruno Fernandes.
Speaking in a recent interview about the way the club is moving forward, manager Ruben Amorim, revealed the squad now has a leadership group comprised of captain Bruno Fernandes plus former captain Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez, Diogo Dalot, Noussair Mazraoui and Tom Heaton.
Last season United lacked grit and determination to back up and support the captain. Ahead of the new campaign, Amorim has made a definitive move to try to address this by appointing a group of players to try to forge an identity at the club.
It is notable that all the players except for Tom Heaton (goalkeeper) and the captain (midfielder) are defenders. Two players are fellow Portuguese countrymen of the United boss in Fernandes and Dalot while the other two are Martinez (Argentinian) and Mazraoui (Moroccan). Crucially, Maguire and Heaton are senior English players who understand the club and should be solid role models.
Also noteworthy is that senior, experienced players like Brazilian midfielder Casemiro and United’s longest serving player in English defender Luke Shaw were left out of the group. What this means is hard to know but omitting these two players is a little surprising.
The manager must have his reasons however and the fact that Shaw has missed much of the past 2 seasons through injury and Casemiro is unlikely to be with the club beyond this season may have led to their omission despite being the most experienced options available.
The other slight surprise is Matthis De Ligt not being chosen. The Dutch international has vast experience on his CV having played at top European clubs like Ajax, Juventus and Bayern Munich. Leaving him out may suggest that he begins the season on the outside looking in when it comes to the manager’s strongest XI.
What did Amorim have to say?
As reported by The Athletic, the Portuguese boss had the following to say about his choices to address the leadership vacuum at the club from last season, “It’s six guys now. They are responsible for the group. There are some things that, in the last year, I had to deal with that. I said to them, ‘You deal with that. Small issues are with you guys. You are responsible’. All these small changes, it’s helping the group.
“So it’s not just the oldest one, Nous is in the group because he’s a character that I like. I try to understand the dynamic of the group, try to reach every space. They are the guys who are responsible for keeping everyone in line.”
These players are all solid characters and with the exception of Maguire and Heaton are likely starters for Amorim when fit.
Addressing the issues Amorim inherited
Amorim clearly had a problem with the attitude and approach of a number of the players he inherited. The likes of Alejandro Garnacho, Anthony, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Tyrell Malacia have been banished from training with the 1st team squad and can only train after the squad have finished their sessions.
As we know United academy graduate Marcus Rashford secured his dream move to the La Liga giants just days ago. Rashford scored his 1st goal for Barcelona in a friendly vs South Korean club Daegu FC on Monday night.
Rashford’s loan move may not have brought in much needed transfer funds but at least the Catalan club are paying his total wages alleviating some financial burden from United.
The United boss went public with some harsh criticism of these players which some pundits like ESPN’s Don Hutchison felt was unnecessary and only served to lower their transfer values making them harder to sell or loan out.
Despite this, reportedly Garnacho will likely join Chelsea, Sancho has been strongly linked with Napoli, Antony is very keen on returning to Real Betis and Malacia could return to his native Holland.
How much money can be generated from these departures is unclear however, and loans seem most likely with the exception of Garnacho who has reportedly agreed terms with the West London club leaving United to agree a fee to complete the deal.
Betis are not a rich club and Napoli like most Serie A clubs do not usually spend big. Therefore avoiding paying wages looks like the main financial benefit as potential loan fees look pretty bleak.
How does the squad look now?
Along with the 5 members of the so called “bomb squad”, defenders Victor Lindelof and Jonny Evans plus midfielder Christian Eriksen have also left the club.
As we know Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Diego Leon have joined the team while United continue to be strongly linked with signing a new striker – Benjamin Sesko, Porto’s Samu Aghehowa and Benfica’s Vangelis Pavlidis appear to be the leading candidates.
With Rasmus Hojlund reportedly being made available for the bargain fee of only £30million it seems Ruben Amorim wants another centre-forward and is ready to cut the Dane loose.
United are strongly linked with signing a goalkeeper as well as reinforcing the midfield so the squad is going to look very different if they can complete these 3 signings.
Likely effects of this summer’s changes
What it will all amount to, in terms of League position, is hard to say but after finishing their preseason tour of the USA with a 2-2 tie vs Everton following wins over Bournemouth and West Ham, United did win the Premier League’s Summer Series trophy.
United’s squad will be very different personnel wise this season of that we can be sure. If the new leadership group does its job and the green shoots of improvement continue then maybe Red-Devils fans will be watching a higher-scoring more entertaining team (which they inherently crave) following the debacle of last season’s 15th place PL league finish.
Ruben Amorim is doing his best, whether that will be good enough for the club to make serious progress or cement his position at Old Trafford remains to be seen. The modest positives of the summer so far are in stark contrast to the many lows of last season.
Fans will be praying the Portuguese boss gets off to a decent start across the tough run of fixtures to start the League campaign or the noise will be amplified, the pressure increased making for more challenging times ahead for the Premier League’s most successful club.