Sometimes, the best gift you can get is something disastrous you avoided, and an ideal Ruben Amorim signing breaking down again will have Michael Carrick feeling thankful.
The results under Ruben Amorim warranted his sacking, but ultimately, he was sacked for having different views about the club’s direction from his bosses.
From his outlook on the January transfer window to the players he wanted all the way back last summer, the frustration had been building up.
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Patrick Dorgu celebrates with his teammates during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Newcastle United.
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However, time is slowly proving Ineos right, as another ideal Ruben Amorim signing has just broken down again to hand Michael Carrick freedom from a potentially disastrous scenario.
Jeremie Frimpong of Liverpool goes down during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD8 match between Liverpool FC and Qarabag FK at Anfield on January 28, 2026
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Man Utd’s Jeremie Frimpong miss is aging like wine
Amorim’s system, being extremely reliant on attacking output from his wing-backs, ultimately proved to be his undoing.
Neither Diogo Dalot nor Patrick Dorgu was attack-minded from the wing-back position, which led to United getting linked to Jeremie Frimpong last summer.
Frimpong played the best football of his life under Xabi Alonso as a wing-back at Leverkusen, so it was a huge blow when United didn’t just miss out on him, but he strengthened Liverpool instead.
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Amad saved United from some misery, but Frimpong was the perfect wing-back in Amorim’s system.
However, halfway into the season, that miss is aging like fine wine, as not only has Frimpong struggled for form, but he can’t shake off injury worries.
He came off with another injury in Liverpool’s recent game in Europe against Qarabag, as his debut campaign at Anfield has stuttered and flailed.
Even if Amorim was still the Man Utd manager, nobody would be looking at Frimpong right now as “one who got away”.
Now that he’s been replaced by Carrick, it’s almost a gift that United didn’t sign him, since the wing-back position doesn’t exist anymore.
If Frimpong’s Liverpool spell has taught anything, it’s that he’s not a very good traditional full-back.
Ruben Amorim’s list of transfer misses is growing
It defies belief to note that Amorim ultimately complained about a lack of backing from the board, when his transfer misses list is embarrassing.
He wanted to sell Kobbie Mainoo for £40m, which was personally blocked by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
He wanted to sign Emi Martinez and Ollie Watkins instead of Senne Lammens and Benjamin Sesko, which made no sense from a sporting or financial perspective.
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MUTV pundit David May praising Senne Lammens vs Arsenal
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He wanted to sign Antoine Semenyo instead of Bryan Mbeumo last summer, and the latter is United’s best player this season.
United even tried to sign Semenyo in January to satisfy Amorim, only for the player to reject this time, leading to Amorim throwing his toys out of the pram.
None of this reflects well on the Portuguese, and had United signed Frimpong last summer, he would have added another blot to a dubious transfer record for the manager.
Carrick will be glad that Ineos put their foot down, even if it meant sparking a confrontation with his predecessor.
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