Amorim’s optimistic Man Utd target a year too late for Mainoo and Zirkzee
Ruben Amorim has set an optimistic target for Manchester United this season, but it would be a year too late for Kobbie Mainoo and Joshua Zirkzee.
Mainoo was denied his request to leave the club on loan in the summer and has featured for just 237 minutes to far this season; Zirkzee was also linked with the exit – a return to Serie A was mooted – and is now understandably ‘deeply frustrated’ with his 116 minutes of game time this term.
It would be a bitter pill to swallow at the best of times with the World Cup coming at the end of the campaign, but in a United team struggling for creativity which either could theoretically provide, it would be fair for both Mainoo and Zirkzee to question just how bad the teammates currently preferred by Amorim would have to be for them to be given an opportunity.
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Victory over Sunderland before the international break kept the wolves from Amorim’s door and the vote of confidence from Sir Jim Ratcliffe suggests his sacking isn’t in the offing anytime soon. But with champions Liverpool to come on Sunday as Amorim still searches for consecutive Premier League wins for the first time in close to a year at Old Trafford, the United manager’s target for the season feels optimistic as Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and others threaten the Big Six hegemony.
“We want to go to Europe,” he said ahead of the clash with Liverpool. “We need to return to Europe.
“This club’s success is to win the Premier League. We have to be honest with our fans that we are not in that moment.
“We need to be really clear on that, so I am not going to call success going to Europe, or finishing in the [top] eight or six, or whatever. That is not success.
“We need to give steps to success. Success for this club is to win the Premier League, nothing less.”
He also responded to continued speculation over the futures of Mainoo and Zirkzee.
“I understand that but they are our players and we need everyone to have a good season,” he added.
“I also know that in our club everything is a lot of noise. Players are not playing. They want to play, and there’s a World Cup. There are agents that listen to the players, talking all the time.”
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The cost of failing to qualify for Europe last season, beyond the financial implications, is the lack of opportunities afforded to those not in the first XI this term; being dumped out of the League Cup by Grimsby Town exacerbates the problem.
Manchester United will have played 20 games this season before the January transfer window opens. Clubs competing in Europe will have played 27 if they reach the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
Aside perhaps from a congested Premier League fixture list around Christmas, Amorim doesn’t and won’t have the same need to rotate as other big-club managers. If he’s not going to field bit-part players on the back of international breaks that they haven’t been a part of ahead of those that have, as we strongly suspect will be the case at Anfield on Sunday, what hope do Mainoo or Zirkzee have of getting enough game time to stake their World Cup claims?
Amorim might claim he “needs” them, but amid what will be growing pressure from agents and a perfectly possible negative dressing room atmosphere created by frustration and perceived injustice, the United chiefs may feel as though they have little option but to grant the exit wishes of Mainoo and Zirkzee.
