Ruben Amorim promotes Man Utd academy giant to first team as ex-Arsenal teen set for ‘fast-track’
Ruben Amorim promoted 16-year-old Goodwill Kukonki to first-team training in his first session as Manchester United manager, while a report suggests a fellow academy star is ‘expected to be fast-tracked’ under the Portuguese boss.
Amorim was announced as Erik ten Hag’s permanent successor at Old Trafford on November 1 but remained in charge of Sporting ahead of the international break and will be in the dugout for his first Red Devils game against Ipswich on Sunday.
Monday was Amorim’s first opportunity to see some of the players he will be working with, while others will return to training over the next week as they return from international duty.
Speculation is rife as to which United players will be boosted by Amorim’s arrival and the likely switch to a 3-4-3 formation, but Kukonki wasn’t one of those talked about as even a potential beneficiary.
The teenage centre-back, who towers over the rest of the squad at 6ft 5ins tall, has been tipped for a bright future at United and was welcomed to first-team training for the first time by Amorim.
The left-footed defender is a regular starter of the Under-18s team, and while it’s not clear whether he will remain with the group when the rest of the senior squad returns, it’s a move that adds weight to the view that Amorim will look to bring young players through from the academy, as he did with great success at Sporting.
And a GIVEMESPORT report claims ‘Amorim is expected to fast-track the development of Chido Obi-Martin after being given rave reviews of the 16-year-old striker by Manchester United youth coaches’.
United poached Obi-Martin from Arsenal in the summer after he scored 32 goals in just 18 Under-18 games for the Gunners, and he’s managed four in four since the move to the United academy.
The report adds:
‘Technical director Jason Wilcox, academy head Nick Cox and coach Darren Fletcher are all believed to have spoken with Amorim about Obi-Martin.
‘And they plan to integrate the teenager into some Under-21 games as well as some first-team training sessions to prepare him for the senior team.’
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The drive to improve the pathway for academy players into the first team may well be driven by a lack of funds for transfers.
A Daily Telegraph report claims that Amorim will ‘operate on a more modest budget’ than Ten Hag as the Portuguese coach will be tasked with ‘maximising the untapped potential in the squad as the club aim to end the damaging and costly cycle of mass overhauls’.
The report states:
‘The new United hierarchy have no plans under Amorim to rip up a squad they feel is capable of delivering far more and are determined to move away from a culture of persistent upheaval they believe to be financially unsustainable and destructive to coherent squad building.
‘Denmark striker Rasmus Hojlund and England midfielder Mason Mount are cited as just two examples of players United are hoping can thrive in a new environment under the charismatic Portuguese, who will take charge of his first game as the club’s new head coach away to Ipswich Town on Sunday.
