Man Utd: Amorim wanted Aston Villa star over summer signing as Neville reacts to shock attack

Man Utd head coach Ruben Amorim wanted to sign Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins over summer signing Benjamin Sesko amid his shock outburst at the Red Devils hierarchy on Sunday.

The Red Devils came from behind to draw against Leeds United with Matheus Cunha quickly cancelling out a Brenden Aaronson strike in the second half.

Despite winning just three of their last 11 matches, Man Utd are sixth in the Premier League table, although a couple of losses could see them drop down the table quickly as only four points separates the Red Devils and 14th-placed Crystal Palace.

Amorim is coming under pressure and voiced concerns on Friday over potentially signing no players in the January transfer window.

When asked about his comments, Amorim said on Sunday: “I noticed that you receive selective information about everything. I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the coach of Manchester United and that is clear.

“I know that my name is not [Thomas] Tuchel, it’s not [Antonio] Conte, it’s not [Jose] Mourinho, but I’m the manager of Manchester United. And it’s going to be like this for 18 months or when the board decided to change.

READ: Man Utd don’t lose at Leeds and that’s just fine for negative Ruben Amorim

“I will do my job and every department, the scouting department, the sporting director, needs to do their job.

“I will do mine for 18 months and then we will watch.

“So that was my point. I want to finish with that. I’m not going to quit. I will do my job until other guy is coming here to replace me.

“And that is going to finish in 18 months, and then everyone is going to to move on. That was the deal. That is my job, not to be a coach.”

And now talkSPORT claim that Amorim’s ‘future is in major doubt after shock attack’ on the Man Utd hierarchy after his explosive press conference.

The report adds: ‘Amorim’s fractured relationship with director of football Jason Wilcox is viewed by sources close to United as making his long-term position uncertain.’

One the key frustrations for Amorim is over recruitment and the Man Utd boss ‘feels promises he would be allowed to his squad in this transfer window have been broken, with United now planning a quiet January’.

Even in the summer, Amorim had his issues and ‘would have preferred to have signed Premier League proven Ollie Watkins over Benjamin Sesko’.

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Reacting to Amorim’s comments on Sunday, Gary Neville said on his podcast: “Something has happened in the last week which means that Amorim is starting to unleash a little bit.

“It looks to me that he is not happy with something in the hierarchy.”

Responding to Amorim’s comments, Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher added: “I don’t think he is in any position whatsoever to be questioning the people who appointed him. Because he’s not good enough. He’s not good enough to be Manchester United’s manager. He’s barely competent enough to be a Premier League manager right now.”

Pressed on what might be the cause of Amorim’s gripes, Carragher suggested: “It can only be two things. It can either be about the January transfer market, that he’s not being backed. Or the people above him are questioning that he’s flip-flopping between systems.

“It started to look like he was getting somewhere with a back four, he went back to a five at the back against Wolves and it was possibly the worst performance from a team we’ve seen against Wolves this season.”

Former Man Utd defender Neville insists that “there’s no real need for a fire right now but there’s a fire being created” at Old Trafford.

Neville continued: “Obviously, something is annoying him, he’s obviously not feeling the support. He’s obviously letting go. When you say that you came to the club as a manager, I thought he was appointed as the head coach and quite clearly appointed to coach the team.

“Manager is a title that we don’t see anymore. Manager suggests that he’s saying he wants to manage more than just the training ground performance, he wants to oversee other parts of the club.

“I played under a manager and they basically have a greater say in what would be other parts of the club including recruitment, academy, style of play, pre-season friendlies and other things.

“I think he’s suggesting that he needs to be given the ability to manage more departments of the club.

“I actually thought against Leeds, defensively United were very strong. I thought they were very solid in the game I thought they handled the atmosphere well. I thought they fully deserved the point out of the game that’s why I was surprised at the end to hear of Ruben Amorim’s comments because I thought you’ve got a point away from home.

“You’ve just had a disastrous result against Wolves at home but there’s Burnley to go in three days, there’s no real need for a fire right now but there’s a fire being created.

“He’s always been authentic, he’s always had integrity in his press conferences. He’s always said what he believes and he thinks and he should do, he should carry on as he was but it does look like he’s now starting to point upwards which ordinarily does bring pressure with it.”