Five players who ‘won’t come’ to Man Utd after Amorim adds to Ratcliffe’s ‘strict transfer rules’

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has put a hugely limiting restriction on the players he wants the club to sign this summer, adding to the already ‘strict rules’ put in place by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS ahead of the major squad surgery required to prevent the Red Devils from further embarrassing themselves next season.

Here are five players who ‘won’t come’ to United this summer on the basis of this new rule set out by Amorim and the five which worked perfectly for them in Ratcliffe’s first window with his hand on the tiller.

Viktor Gyokeres
“I didn’t talk to him,” Ruben Amorim said when asked about United’s links with Gyokeres.”But if a player only wants to come to Man United to play Champions League, then he won’t come. We want players who want to represent United, not players who want to play certain competitions.”

We don’t know whether Amorim believes United should be exempt from the key factor which has governed which clubs top players choose to sign for over the last two decades, but if he thinks Gyokeres is somehow abnormal for wanting to play Champions League football then he’s gravely mistaken. He’s the most deadly goalscorer in Europe.

It would be great if the strength and veracity of this Amorim belief could be put to the test with a phone call to Gyokeres before and after United win the Europa League final and gain entry into the Champions League next season, with the striker’s flip-flop met with contempt and a snub by his former manager in favour of a much worse striker who wanted to join no matter what.

Jonathan Tah
With all due respect to our wonderful news editor and headline whizz Joe Williams, we’re not sure many Manchester United fans will have clicked on a link with any hope of the Red Devils pulling off the signing of Tah having read ‘Man Utd ‘actively consider’ free transfer ahead of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona’.

You can ‘consider’ as much as you want, lads. That’s a four-club battle you’re not winning. Nor should they be battling in the first place. Free transfer or not, the Germany international breaks the primary golden rule set out by INEOS of not signing players over the age of 25. He’s 29 until he’s 30 in February.

Patrick Schick
‘The manager will be asked what position he wants to sign, not what player,’ the rules report claimed, and Amorim has flouted not just that directive but another by suggesting they sign 29-year-old Schick.

Amorim has had the gall to ask whether the United bosses would be willing to ‘go against their transfer strategy’ to sign the Bayer Leverkusen striker as an alternative should they miss out on Liam Delap, rather than waiting for his list of three strikers to choose from, passed down from the recruitment geniuses who bought a striker last summer who’s scored seven goals in 48 appearances.

MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 ‘He won’t come’ – Amorim explains why Gyokeres could reject summer transfer to Man Utd
👉 Man Utd told by midfielder that he wants to ‘wait’ and move to Real Madrid after ‘formal contact’
👉 Man Utd ‘actively consider’ free transfer ahead of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona

Victor Osimhen
A triple whammy of rule breaks here we suspect. Sir Jim Ratcliffe said he didn’t want any ‘Galacticos’, making quite the assumption that Manchester United still have the clout to sign such players. But then again, a sojourn in the Turkish league (no disrespect) may have given United cause to believe Osimhen – whom we reckon can just about be classed as a ‘Galactico’ – would be open to a move to Old Trafford.

But they don’t want those top tier stars, likely because of their wage demands as much as anything, with some reports suggesting Osimhen wants as much as £400,000 per week from his next club. He’s also 26 and surely has designs on Champions League football.

Matheus Cunha
We can’t wait for the look on their faces when they realise 25-year-old ‘done deal’ Cunha turns 26 five days before the transfer window opens.