Man Utd: Ruben Amorim snubbed by INEOS for one reason in summer ‘beauty parade’

Manchester United turned down the chance to hire Ruben Amorim in the summer for a reason that’s currently costing them in the Premier League.

Amorim has now lost more games than he’s won as Manchester United boss, with unforeseen gut punches adding to what was always going to be a very difficult job at Old Trafford.

A huge problem for the Portuguese boss is the limited training time he has with his players in the middle of a season, making a change of formation and style particularly difficult.

But it’s that change of style that led Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS to reject the chance to hire him in the summer according to talkSPORT’s Alex Crook.

Discussing the issue of players getting up to speed with Amorim’s plans, Crook said: “That’s on INEOS then, isn’t it?

“They did pre-season with one manager playing one style of football – not that we ever really knew what it was – then they spent a load of money to get players suited to that manager before firing him.”

Troy Deeney replied: “And now they’ve gone a completely different route.”

Crook continued: “Also, I know this for a fact, that ownership were offered Ruben Amorim in the summer when they were doing a beauty parade of different managers.

“They were speaking to Roberto De Zerbi, Kieran McKenna, Thomas Tuchel and they said no to Amorim because his style didn’t fit this Man United squad.

“They then hired him X amount of weeks later. It doesn’t fill you with confidence, does it?”

Sam Matterface took a different stance, claiming: “It does because knowing that information it shows that they’re clearly planning for the long term rather than the short term.

“That should probably fill you with more confidence!”

But Crook replied: “Nothing that they’ve done so far has filled me with confidence.”

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Deeney then provided some insight into exactly why pre-season is so important in getting ready for a new season.

He explained: “There’s fit, match fit and tactically fit- there’s different ways of doing it.

“The problem this manager is going to have is getting these players fit during the season.

“I’ve missed pre-season twice in my career due to injury – that season I may have done okay but I never once felt good. Pre-season is huge as a player.”

Meanwhile, in something of a surprise development, Marcus Rashford is back in the United squad to face Newcastle on Monday.

The England international hasn’t been included in a matchday squad since he told journalist Henry Winter that he’s seeking a “new challenge”.

Rashford’s reintegration may well be good news for him as it doesn’t look as though he will have a wide array of options for a transfer in the January transfer window.