The Red Devils' target of reclaiming their crown by 2028 is far too optimistic, but there is a path the club can take towards eventually achieving it
The personality clash that took place after Manchester United's FA Cup fifth-round tie with Fulham was arguably more exciting than the game that had just taken place: Wayne Rooney versus Ruben Amorim. The club's all-time top scorer and perhaps greatest player in the modern era pitted against its current coach, squabbling over whether or not the words 'Manchester United' and 'Premier League title' should be mentioned in the same breath.
Amorim had decided to declare that winning the Premier League was the club's aim moments after his side had been dumped out of the cup, leaving United with two objectives for the rest of the season: improving on their current standing of 14th in the table and the rather fanciful aim of winning the Europa League. Rooney, analysing the game on the, was surprised to hear Amorim talk about the title, a trophy they last won when the striker was still playing for United in 2013, after such a low moment. And he was not shy about speaking his mind.
"He says winning the Premier League, how can they compete? To get further up the table, I think that's the next step for them," Rooney said. "Managers aren't getting that time over the last 10-15 years. I think it's a little naïve to say they're looking to win the Premier League because from where they are now, they're a long way off that."
Rooney's words were immediately put to Amorim in the post-match press conference, and it would have been easy for the Portuguese to bat the question away and kill the story. But as we have seen on many occasions in the coach's short but highly eventful time in charge of United, that is not the Amorim way. He sought to defend his words and his own record as a coach, which is a lot better than Rooney's managerial career even withstanding his miserable tenure with the Red Devils, while also taking aim at Rooney's current role of analyst after being sacked by Plymouth Argyle.
"Being naïve is to think we are going to do it this season or be the best contender next season. I was a pundit when I finished my career. I know it’s really easy," Amorim responded. "Our goal is to win the Premier League. Maybe it is not with me. But our goal, as a club, the board, is to win the Premier League like we did in the past with all the great glories and legends of this club. We will want to do better and we are in a difficult moment. And I’m not naïve, that’s why I’m here, at 40 years old, coaching Manchester United."
Shots fired in both directions. But the inconvenient truth for Amorim and United fans is that Rooney is right…
Getty Images Sport'Mission 21'
In fairness to Amorim, he was only repeating a mantra that is being discussed around United. It was revealed last month that INEOS director of sport Sir Dave Brailsford and technical director Jason Wilcox have been working on a plan to get United back into a position of reclaiming the title, which they have won a record 20 times, but not since Sir Alex Ferguson retired 12 years ago. The plan has been described as 'Mission 21' and is in conjunction with 'Mission 1' to deliver to deliver a first-ever Women's Super League title. They are part of 'Project 150', a broader plan to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the club being founded.
But the revelation of the plan could hardly have been more poorly timed. Reports of Brailsford's goals came out three days after a home defeat to Crystal Palace, the same day that Amorim decided to field Kobbie Mainoo up front rather than either of his two centre-forwards, Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund, and lost Lisandro Martinez to a serious knee injury. Things have only gotten worse since, with new-found talisman Amad Diallo also being ruled out for the rest of the season while Mainoo has been sidelined for a number of weeks.
Talk of celebrating United's 150th anniversary by reconquering the Premier League also felt strange as United's miserable form has had statisticians rolling back the years charting when they were last this bad. The defeat by Palace meant that United were on their worst run of results at home since 1894, when the club was still called Newton Heath and played at Bank Street in east Manchester.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportTen defeats in 24 games
Even United's few wins under Amorim have been overshadowed by other events. Harry Maguire's winning goal in the FA Cup fourth-round tie with Leicester City was blatantly offside, while the recent 3-2 win over Ipswich Town could not erase the memory of two calamitous mistakes by Andre Onana and a red card and subsequent three-game suspension for Patrick Dorgu, who had combined with Onana to gift the visitors the first goal.
The Fulham loss signalled a 10th defeat in 24 games in all competitions for Amorim, and ended hope of United repeating their trick of last season of qualifying for Europe by winning the FA Cup. The club have budgeted for reaching the Europa League next season, and their only route to continental football now is to win the Europa League and earned a ticket to the Champions League, as they did in 2017 under Jose Mourinho.
United's squad now is far weaker than the one Mourinho had, and the legendary Portuguese coach pulled that achievement off with his famously pragmatic tactical approach. Indeed, after his team had physically bullied a youthful Ajax in the final in Stockholm, Mourinho declared: "There are many poets in football but they don't win many titles". Amorim, who was called 'the poet' by Cristiano Ronaldo when he was a player, has repeated that he will not stray from his 3-4-3 formation regardless of results.
Getty Images SportFormation doubts
And many people believe that the formation that Amorim has decided to wed himself to is unworkable in the Premier League. It should not be forgotten that Liverpool considered Amorim as a contender to succeed Jurgen Klopp last summer, but ultimately discarded him as they believed the Reds' squad was much better suited to playing four at the back. It is thought that Dan Ashworth held similar reservations about Amorim when he was United sporting director, and that is why he favoured bringing in Sir Gareth Southgate, Eddie Howe or Graham Potter over the Portuguese, which ultimately led to him being sacked by co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
The only team to win the English title in the league's 33 years while playing 3-4-3 was Antonio Conte's Chelsea. The Italian, unlike Amorim, was not obsessed with the formation, and now plays with a 4-3-3 at Napoli. But he felt the players he had at the time made it workable, and it was difficult to deny that. Nemanja Matic and N'Golo Kante – the latter of whom had underpinned Leicester City's miraculous title win the previous year – held things together in midfield while two of the best forwards in Europe at the time, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa, provided the magic up front.
"Even if he gets all the backing in the world and is financially able to bring in players, I'm not sure that system can win the Premier League against the type of teams he's coming up against," said ex-England midfielder Danny Murphy, analysing the FA Cup tie alongside Rooney. "It might be more competitive than in previous seasons, but only one team has won the Premier League with that system which is Chelsea, and let's not forget who they had in the middle of the pitch. They had Matic and Kante, and also up front they had Hazard and Costa, which is a bit different."
Getty ImagesRecruitment issues
United simply do not have the economic power to sign the 2025 versions of Hazard, Costa, Matic and Kante, as their recent financial figures laid bare. The latest results showed that United owe £300 million ($380m) in transfer debt in addition to owing £731m ($927m) as part of the Glazer family's leveraged buy-out two decades ago. So it is little wonder that the club have made a total loss of £373m ($473m) over the last five years, leading to Ratcliffe announcing a fresh round of redundancies last week which could affect up to 200 staff, having fired 250 employees the previous summer.
United's CEO Omar Berrada admitted in January that the club was close to breaching the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), which means they cannot arm Amorim with the squad he needs for a title challenge. Murphy said: "[Before] they could go and buy the best in class. Man United were still a draw because of their success. The recruitment's been poor and the problem United have got and the new manager is PSR. You can want to get rid of six or seven and bring in four or five and you might even be able to entice them in, but if you haven't got the capability of doing it financially because of PSR, you're then trying to put this jigsaw together which is really difficult to do."
And Rooney pointed out that there are many more clubs that aspiring footballers would prefer to join than United in their current state. "When you're trying to go and win the Premier League you need to be in a stable position to bring the best players in. If I'm a player playing in a different country or a different club and Manchester United come to try to sign me now, I'm looking thinking 'I'm not sure'," he said. "The top players want Champions League football and unfortunately that's not where the club are at at the minute.
"When I signed for United they were in transition then. A big reason I signed was Alex Ferguson because you knew he'd get it right and he'd build up that team again, and it's hard to see that now."
