Manchester United have made a decision over the future of manager Ruben Amorim in the event the club lose the Europa League final and miss out on Champions League qualification.
Amorim has endured a taxing start to his Old Trafford tenure with the club languishing in 16th place in the Premier League, which would see this season go down as their worst since being relegated in 1974.
But the glimmer of hope on the horizon for United is the upcoming Europa League final against Tottenham. The all-English affair takes place in Bilbao on May 21 and for both teams represents an opportunity to turn a miserable campaign into one to remember.
Spurs sit one place below United in the league standings, but a first trophy since 2008 will put a hugely positive spin on an otherwise horrendous season. It remains to be seen if Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou will remain in charge even if he ends the club’s 17-year trophy drought, such is the level of disappointment over the club’s league form.
But the same cannot be said for Amorim.
The Guardian reported on Tuesday that United will keep faith with Amorim even if the Europa League final is lost. Club bosses believe Amorim deserves a chance to rebuild the squad, which was so expensively assembled by predecessor Erik ten Hag.
Amorim is more than aware of the situation at hand at United, telling reporters that he was “embarrassed” to look at the table following the home defeat to West Ham: “To be honest with you, I’m not concerned about the final. We need to change something deeper than this.
“Everyone has to think seriously about a lot of things here. Everybody is thinking about the final… the final is not the issue in our club, we have bigger things to think about and have to change a lot of things at the end of the season.”
He added: “For me the biggest concern is that feeling that ‘it’s OK’, and ‘we cannot change our position so much so it’s OK’.
“That is the biggest problem in our club in this moment because we are losing the feeling of we are a massive club and it’s the end of the world to lose a game at home. I think that is the biggest concern in our club.”
Independent.ie
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