Ruben Amorim’s legacy at Man Utd is taking a hit with every win under Michael Carrick, but there wouldn’t be many wins had Amorim not fought Ineos last summer.
Fights with Ineos and Jason Wilcox came to define the last few months of Ruben Amorim’s reign at Man Utd as things unravelled rapidly.
Most of the battles Amorim fought were losing ones, and have only served to diminish his legacy at the club with the benefit of hindsight.
However, he did win the most important battle of the summer, without which Man Utd fans couldn’t even fathom how this current season would be going right now.
Ruben Amorim with Bruno Fernandes during the Premier League match between Manchester United and West Ham United at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, in 2025.
Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images
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Ruben Amorim vs Ineos over Bruno Fernandes
With every passing game, it seems like Bruno Fernandes is breaking or is close to breaking another record in the history books.
After his two assists against Villa, Fernandes surpassed David Beckham’s record of 15 in a season for Man Utd, and the Premier League record of 20 is now in his sights.
Considering all this, it beggars belief that this is a player United were silently pushing out of the club last summer amid interest from Saudi Arabia.
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Fernandes said as much himself in an interview this season that the owners ‘lacked courage’ to tell him face-to-face that they wanted him to leave because of the finances involved.
It was Ruben Amorim who intervened and maintained a hard stance throughout that Fernandes shouldn’t be sold under any condition.
Ultimately, this is the one battle Amorim won against the board as Fernandes stayed.
Michael Carrick is probably feeling extremely grateful for Amorim standing his ground against Ineos because it seems impossible to imagine where this side would be today without Fernandes in it.
Man Utd are lucky that Fernandes is the only battle Amorim won
Ineos softened their stance on Fernandes’ sale after strong lobbying by Amorim, but this is actually the only transfer battle he won all summer.
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Bryan Mbeumo was signed instead of Antoine Semenyo, Emi Martinez was rejected in favour of Senne Lammens, while Benjamin Sesko was preferred over Ollie Watkins.
Amorim lost all these battles, and the common pattern emerging from these is that he lost all the battles that would have hurt United, and won the battle that saved United’s season.
Moments like these are butterfly effect scenarios, and in United’s case, imagining an alternate universe where Fernandes isn’t at Old Trafford, but Martinez, Semenyo, and Watkins are is a nightmare one.
Amorim didn’t win many battles at United, but the one he did has saved United’s season.
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