Ruben Amorim cut a dejected figure when talking about Man Utd transfers this week and has suggested it will be a quiet month at Old Trafford.
Ruben Amorim hinted at issues behind the scenes over Manchester United transfer policy
Ruben Amorim refused to explain why he had come to the conclusion that he wasn’t going to get the money or the time to implement his 3-4-3 system at Manchester United after revealing he didn’t expect to add any new players to his squad this month.
Amorim said on Christmas Eve that he was “starting to understand” he wouldn’t get the finance needed or the time required to make his system “perfect” at Old Trafford, but when asked about those comments ahead of United’s trip to Elland Road to kick off 2026, he declined to answer.
The 40-year-old cut a despondent figure throughout his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Leeds and had earlier said there were “no conversations” about signing players in January, despite saying two weeks ago he was hopeful of doing business this month.
Amorim has since said he would “have to adapt” to be successful at Old Trafford, having realised he wasn’t going to get the tools to make the system he has persisted with since getting the job in November 2024 work.
Asked to clarify exactly what he meant by those comments, Amorim said: “I don’t want to talk about that. I just focus on the Leeds game.”
When it was put to Amorim that he might regret saying it, he said: “No, no, no. But I don’t want to talk about it.” Amorim was then asked what had made him say he wouldn’t get the money to transform the squad in his image a year into the job and whether he had been told by director of football Jason Wilcox that something had changed.
Again, he said, “I don’t want to talk about that”, before telling the reporter, “You’re very smart”, and ending the discussion. The exchange captured Amorim’s mood throughout a tetchy press conference.
His comments on the lack of talks about new signings contradicted what he had said last month about focusing on long-term targets and hoping to do some business this month. He also spoke last week about United’s joined-up transfer strategy and how he and Wilcox tried to reach decisions together.
“Sometimes I have one idea, Jason and the board has another idea, but every decision we make, we need to reach a common ground,” he said.
“That is really important because you don’t need to make everything for the manager because the manager can change, and then you need to change everything. But you also need to understand that the manager understands the way of playing. If you don’t reach common ground, the player would not come, so we just try to do that.”
United had shown an interest in Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo before the 25-year-old attacker opted to join Manchester City. Kobbie Mainoo and Joshua Zirkzee have since been linked with moves away from Old Trafford this month, but Amorim said his squad wasn’t able to cope with departures and told anyone who wanted to leave they had to talk to Wilcox.
“If you look at our squad, I think it’s impossible for someone to leave. But that is… They need to talk with Jason,” he said.