Manchester United saw their opening Premier League of the season against Arsenal decided by a familiar problem, but Ruben Amorim is refusing to take Gary Neville's advice
Altay Bayindir reacts after conceding against Arsenal
Altay Bayindir was at fault for Arsenal's goal on Sunday(Image: Getty Images)
Ruben Amorim has insisted he is happy with his goalkeepers despite Gary Neville claiming that their “glaring issue” will continue to undermine Manchester United’s efforts this season.
United opened their Premier League campaign with a 1-0 defeat by Arsenal on Sunday, with the only goal of the game coming from an error by Altay Bayindir. The United keeper flapped at Declan Rice’s corner, gifting Riccardo Calafiori a simple header to put the Gunners ahead.
Bayindir started with Andre Onana not in the squad following a pre-season impacted by injury, while 39-year-old Tom Heaton was on the bench. Neither Onana nor Bayindir has convinced since joining the club and Neville was clear on his take.
“It’s going to keep hurting United," he said while on commentary for Sky Sports. "The goalkeeper has got to be stronger. I think he will complain that he was fouled. He’s got a player in front of him, there’s a lot of pushing and shoving going on. I just think your goalkeeper has to be stronger.”
Speaking later on the Gary Neville Podcast, he said: “It’s a glaring issue at United that cannot be ignored and that is that they do need to find a goalkeeper. They have to, I’m absolutely unequivocal on that.
"In my 20 years at Man United we had two periods of seven or eight years with [Peter] Schmeichel and [Edwin] Van der Sar and in between we had seven or eight goalkeepers in a six, seven, eight-year period and it’s really unsettling when you don’t have a dominant No.1 who is 6ft 2in, dominant in the air and owns his six-yard box and comes and punches everything and makes a lot of saves one-on-one and saves you points when your defenders make mistakes.
“I don’t know where they are on PSR, they seem to have a bit more money, they don’t need to magic up a bit more money in the next week or so, or do something on loan.”
Ruben Amorim
Ruben Amorim is refusing to sign a new goalkeeper(Image: MUTV)
But asked if he was happy with his goalkeepers, Amorim was firm. “We proved today that we can win any game in the Premier League, especially against a great team like Arsenal, and we were the better team,” he said.
And pressed on whether they might try to sign one before the window closes in two weeks’ time, Amorim simply stated: “I’m happy with the three goalkeepers.”
United have enquired about Aston Villa’s Emi Martinez and Paris Saint-Germain’s Gianluigi Donnarumma this summer and Neville believes either would be a big step up. “The two that you’d look at who were mentioned in the last week are Martinez and Donnarumma,” he said.
Gianluigi Donnarumma
Gianluigi Donnarumma looks set to exit Paris Saint-Germain
“The reason I say that they would be good goalkeepers for Manchester United is not necessarily because I think they are the best goalkeepers in Europe or that they’re amazing, I think they’ve got big personalities and characters. You’ve seen Donnarumma in that European final for Italy save those penalties, he looked like a giant. You’ve seen him play for PSG in huge games under pressure.
“You’ve seen Martinez play in a World Cup final and win a World Cup. They’ve played under extreme pressure and have big personalities and characters and almost walk out with an arrogance and dominance of a goalkeeper and I think Man United need that.”
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