Ruben Amorim has always been unafraid of dropping and selling his biggest stars if they don’t buy into his coaching, with the Manchester United head coach sticking to those principles this summer
Ruben Amorim once proved that no individual is bigger than the team by putting his biggest Sporting CP stars up for sale before winning two league titles. The Portuguese head coach is now demonstrating the same ruthlessness at Manchester United by sticking to his guns and selling any player that doesn’t fully buy into his philosophy.
Amorim came into the Sporting role as a fresh-faced and inexperienced manager in March 2020. But he had a plan from the off, which was to establish his own style of play with his own players. That, in turn, sparked a mass clear-out in his first transfer window at the helm.
The tactician sold a whopping seven players in his first summer, with three more leaving on free transfers and 15 being loaned out. It didn’t matter who they were – if they didn’t meet his requirements, they were axed.
Marcos Acuna had made 36 appearances the previous season and even wore the armband in the final game of the season against Benfica – but the hot-headed Argentina international was quickly sold to Sevilla.
Another player that butted heads with Amorim and didn’t survive to tell the tale was Islam Slimani. The Algerian had returned to Sporting as a fan favourite in 2022 and immediately started scoring.
Yet, Slimani only lasted a matter of months as his attitude didn’t sit well with his manager. Amorim sent the forward home early from a training session, citing his “lack of commitment” and “inability to make a big effort” with the team.
Slimani had reacted poorly to being told he would not be starting ahead of striker Paulinho for a game, which crossed the line in Amorim’s eyes. The manager said at the time: “Those who train better, play better and are called up. It doesn’t matter to me. I can risk my work and qualifiers. It will be like this until I stop being a coach.”
That has also become a recurring theme during his short time at Old Trafford. We saw just weeks into his tenure back in December that no player was untouchable, as he cut Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho from his matchday squad against Manchester City.
Rashford was then completely frozen out and sent out on loan to Aston Villa in January, with the United academy graduate expected to leave on a permanent deal in the coming months.
Garnacho, meanwhile, reportedly showed ‘dissent’ towards his head coach and has now been listed on the transfer market this summer, with the likes of Napoli and Chelsea interested in signing the £40million winger.
After the final game of the season against Aston Villa, Amorim delivered an apologetic speech to the Old Trafford faithful in which he promised the “good days are coming”, following their lowest ever Premier League finish.
A key part of instilling that vision is working towards a squad overhaul in the transfer window. Like Rashford and Garnacho, Jadon Sancho is also expected to depart after Chelsea paid a £5m penalty fee to send him back to United, having decided against signing him permanently.
Winger Antony is also set to leave after rediscovering his form on loan at Real Betis, where he said he is “smiling and happy” since joining the La Liga side in January. Many more are sure to follow him out of Carrington’s doors
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