{"id":196779,"date":"2025-06-19T09:26:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T09:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196779\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T09:26:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T09:26:10","slug":"since-amorim-came-in-erik-ten-hag-debutant-lifts-the-lid-on-challenging-few-months-at-man-utd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196779\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Since Amorim came in…’ Erik ten Hag debutant lifts the lid on challenging few months at Man Utd"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The changing of the head coach always leaves some players as big winners and others as losers, and for one Man Utd player, the contrast from days under Erik ten Hag to Ruben Amorim couldn\u2019t be clearer. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Someone like Alejandro Garnacho or Marcus Rashford would know how the fortunes at the club can change with the new manager. <\/p>\n

At the other end of the spectrum, a player like Manuel Ugarte was liberated<\/a> after Erik ten Hag\u2019s sacking and Ruben Amorim\u2019s<\/a> arrival. <\/p>\n

However, a debutant under Ten Hag who looked set to become a Man Utd<\/a> mainstay has since fallen back in the queue for a breakthrough since Ruben Amorim arrived. <\/p>\n

\"ErikPhoto by Matt McNulty\/Getty ImagesChallenging times for Ethan Wheatley at Man Utd<\/p>\n

It was all going so well for Ethan Wheatley<\/a>. He had become Man Utd\u2019s 250th academy debutant<\/a> under Erik ten Hag and was scoring for fun in the academy. <\/p>\n

With three Premier League appearances in 2023\/24 and a confirmed place in the pre-season squad for the summer, Wheatley was set to become Ten Hag\u2019s next success story<\/a> from the academy. <\/p>\n

However, everything changed in November. <\/p>\n

Ten Hag was sacked, replaced by Ruben Amorim, who had too many problems to contend with at the start and wasn\u2019t going to throw any academy players in the line of fire. <\/p>\n

Wheatley was first in the international camp, then went on loan to Walsall in January, which is where the problems began<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In six months with the League Two side, Wheatley played 168 minutes of league football over four appearances, while failing to open his scoring account.<\/p>\n

Combine that with the signing and immediate breakthrough of Chido Obi<\/a>, and Wheatley\u2019s \u201cdestined for breakout\u201d scenario is not as realistic anymore. <\/p>\n

Wheatley on his prospects at Man Utd and Walsall loan<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old striker is not losing hope, however. Now that he\u2019s back with the club and scoring for the U21s again<\/a>, he is determined to make an impact. <\/p>\n

The pre-season could be a crucial time for him, especially since United have a gaping hole at the striker position<\/a>, and Obi\u2019s readiness, despite his vast potential, is under the scanner. <\/p>\n

Wheatley spoke to PA news agency while away with England U19s for the U19 Euros, where he scored recently in a 5-5 draw<\/a>, and painted a hopeful picture of his prospects at Man Utd. <\/p>\n

He said (via The Independent<\/a>): \u201cThe club have been good with me. They\u2019ve let me come back and play a few 21s games just to keep my legs going, so it\u2019s been good to be back at United, developing and getting game time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince (Amorim) came in I was away with international camp and obviously went on loan in January, so I\u2019ve not really been around it too much.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I want to be a Man United player in the future, but if that doesn\u2019t happen then it obviously wasn\u2019t meant to be. We\u2019ll just see what happens in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

He accepted that his Walsall loan didn\u2019t go well, but he\u2019s determined to bounce back and not let it define him as a player. <\/p>\n

He said: \u201cMy second half of season has been frustrating, not being able to show what I\u2019m about, really. Even if my first (loan) didn\u2019t go well \u2013 and it didn\u2019t \u2013 I had it in the back of my head, and I was telling staff around the club, it\u2019s not going to define me as a player.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to judge where I end up in the future. I think it\u2019s just like a little blip in my early career, and hopefully I can just bounce back from it going into next season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amorim has proven that he doesn\u2019t consider age or history as a barrier to entry if he\u2019s impressed by the professionalism and effort of the player, so Wheatley can\u2019t be written off just yet. <\/p>\n

Perhaps United\u2019s striker solution can come out of nowhere from a successful pre-season. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The changing of the head coach always leaves some players as big winners and others as losers, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[36047,27439,94,99,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-196779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-erik-ten-hag","9":"tag-ethan-wheatley","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-ruben-amorim","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114709318083295879","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}