After Man United's transfer window, issues remain for Amorim

Friday - 05/09/2025 07:03

Ruben Amorim and Manchester United knew that not every hole could be addressed in one summer, but ignoring the midfield could have consequences.

Rob DawsonSep 5, 2025, 12:23 PM

It has been nine months since Ruben Amorim sat in the media theater at Old Trafford and warned Manchester United fans that a storm was coming. The prediction was one of the few things the Portuguese coach got right in a season he labeled "a disaster."

Aside from the blip in the Carabao Cup at Grimsby Town, he has been a lot more positive about his team in the early weeks of the 2025-26 campaign. He is, though, still navigating choppy waters. If last season the storm was on the pitch, this season dark clouds are threatening to gather off it.

The past three United managers -- Erik ten Hag, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jose Mourinho -- were all sacked in November or December. If Amorim can get through the next three or four months with enough positive performances and results to keep the pressure off, it would lay the groundwork to push for the European places in the new year. The alternative is that form dips, the spotlight intensifies, and United's board are forced into a frantic search for a fifth permanent manager in nine years.

Transfer window slams shut, but questions remain

United's summer window ended with four major signings and nine first-team departures. It's a significant overhaul of the squad Amorim inherited when he took over from Ten Hag in November, though he will feel the club have addressed some areas, but not others.

At the end of last season, the data department was tasked with mapping out exactly why the team struggled so much and reported back that a lack of goals was the biggest factor above anything else. It prompted Amorim, CEO Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox to focus their transfer funds on strengthening the attack, leading to the arrivals of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko at great expense.

Ruben Amorim (left) will be counting on Benjamin Sesko to help put an end to Manchester United's early-season finishing woes. Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images

Cunha and Mbeumo were United's top two targets. Sources told ESPN that other strikers were looked at closely, but Sesko was chosen because of his age, potential and an attractive payment structure agreed with RB Leipzig.

Goalkeeper was considered a "secondary priority," according to United sources, though a £21.5 million deal for Senne Lammens was completed late on deadline day. It was made possible after Alejandro Garnacho was moved to Chelsea, Antony went to Real Betis and Rasmus Hojlund was loaned to Napoli. The three departures at the end of the window generated close to £65 million, while Jadon Sancho's loan move to Aston Villa also removed his significant salary from the wage bill.

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Lammens has been on United's list of potential goalkeeper targets for a while. However, sources told ESPN that efforts to bring him in from Royal Antwerp were stepped up significantly following Altay Bayindir's mistake against Arsenal on the opening weekend of the season.

Lammens' arrival does, however, create an issue for Amorim. United are billing the Belgian as a player with "great potential," but not necessarily the No. 1 right away. It means the uncertainty around the goalkeeper position -- with André Onana and Bayindir sharing duties so far this season -- will be muddied even further with another name in the mix. In contrast, signing Emiliano Martínez from Aston Villa -- as was expected in the final days of the window -- would have ended any debate.

Amorim will hope that one of his four senior goalkeepers -- which also includes 39-year-old Tom Heaton, part of the newly established leadership group -- can quickly establish himself as first choice. Still, he faces a big decision about who to pick for the first game back after the international break, against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

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Amorim's other problem is in midfield. United sources insisted signing a midfielder was never a priority this summer, but that wasn't the feeling after Sesko's arrival. The Slovenian was signed to complete the revamp of the front three, but sources told ESPN that club bosses began to explore deals for a midfielder, with options including Carlos Baleba at Brighton, João Gomes at Wolves and Angelo Stiller at Stuttgart.

The decision to delay signing a midfielder until at least January leaves the squad a little lopsided for what is a crucial period for Amorim. He has Cunha, Mbeumo, Mason Mount, Bruno Fernandes, Amad Diallo and Joshua Zirkzee, who can all play as one of the two No. 10s. But in terms of the two deep-lying midfielders in his formation, he has only Casemiro, Manuel Ugarte and Kobbie Mainoo.

Fernandes will take one of those deep-lying spots to free one of the places further forward, which means the United captain playing in the center of midfield alongside Ugarte, Casemiro or Mainoo. All four players have different characteristics, but they don't have the mobility to cover the huge spaces that sometimes open up in Amorim's 3-4-3 system.

A disjointed midfield was an issue under Ten Hag and under Amorim last season. It could cause problems again.

Reasons to be positive

An encouraging performance in defeat to Arsenal, a good half and a bad half in a draw at Fulham, a disaster at League Two side Grimsby and a dramatic late home win over Burnley represents a very mixed start to United's campaign. In particular, their Carabao Cup exit at Blundell Park -- and Amorim's emotion-driven review of the game -- prompted real concern that the problems of last season hadn't been fixed over the summer.

But look beyond the results, and there are reasons for Amorim to be relatively positive. After three Premier League games, United sit ninth on four points. But they top the table for expected goals (6.78), total shots (42), touches in the opposition box (99) and hitting the woodwork (4). They're second for number of duels won (173) and third for successful crosses from open play (12). Three games is a small sample size, but United are doing a lot of things right.

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Amorim was quick to say that his team had been on the wrong end of fine margins in the defeat to Arsenal and the draw at Fulham and the stats suggest he has a point.

The former Sporting CP boss isn't the type to get carried away, and he'll find out more about his team in their next two games after the international break against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sept. 14 and Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sept. 20.

So what does it all mean for Amorim?

The 40-year-old is stuck in the uncomfortable position of overseeing a team that is very much a work in progress while also being under immediate pressure because of his poor overall record of 18 wins, nine draws and 19 defeats in 46 games. He has been clear during the transfer window that United could not fix all their problems in one summer and that strengthening other areas of the squad -- particularly midfield -- would have to wait.

Mourinho, Solskjaer and Ten Hag will all tell you that they left Old Trafford before they got the signings to complete their respective projects. For Amorim, the danger is that the future never arrives and he's ushered out of the door before Baleba -- or whoever else -- comes in. By signing off on players such as Sesko (22 years old) and Lammens (23), he has jumped on board with the club's long-term plans. But he also admitted after Fernandes' stoppage-time penalty against Burnley that he's having to live "day by day."

Amid the furor following the defeat to Grimsby, United chiefs insisted they were not even close to contemplating the manager's future and that he still has their full backing. Amorim will hope that over the coming months he doesn't test their patience, and that the second storm of his short reign never arrives.

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