Ruben Amorim’s mammoth task at Manchester United made clear during draw with Chelsea
Goalkeeper Andre Onana has developed into a successful signing amid the poor buys, while captain Fernandes is likely to start the course.
Amorim is renowned for his three-man defensive system but the candidates to take on this role are unclear.
Matthijs de Ligt is yet to convince following his move from Bayern Munich while Lisandro Martinez showed his lack of discipline with a wild late challenge on Cole Palmer, which saw him fortunate to escape a Video Assistant Review with only a yellow card. It was an awful challenge heavily laced with bad intent.
He may feel there is room for development in youngsters Hojlund and Garnacho but, in time, he will need to embark on a root and branch rebuild – which will once more come at a price to co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Old Trafford hierarchy.
The dysfunction at the heart of United’s recruitment strategy played out in front of their very eyes in the performance of Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo, the game’s outstanding performer who deservedly scored their equaliser with a crisp volley from the edge of the area four minutes after Fernandes struck from the spot.
United passed up the opportunity to sign the 23-year-old when he was at Independiente del Valle in Ecuador. Brighton moved smartly to sign Caicedo for £4.5m in February 2021, where he excelled to such an extent that he became the Premier League’s most expensive player when he moved to Chelsea for £115m at the start of last season.
In this time, United have squandered cash, most notably the ludicrous £82m on Antony from Ajax, very much a Ten Hag production, while Joshua Zirkzee has yet to look like justifying the £36m the dismissed manager paid to Bologna to sign his fellow Dutchman last summer.
Amorim will also have to decide what to do with Van Nistelrooy. Clearly relishing his time in the spotlight, his wild celebration of United’s goal was one of the highlights of the day. A leap and run down the touchline before pumping his fists towards the fans in ecstasy.
Will Amorim want to keep a relic of the Ten Hag regime, albeit a United legend, or will he maintain his usual tight-knit group of backroom staff?
It is a thorny decision given Van Nistelrooy’s beloved status among United’s fans – but this is surely about a fresh start, the new broom arriving from Lisbon and sweeping clean.
It all adds to a mammoth task facing Amorim when he finally walks through the doors of United’s Carrington training headquarters in a little over a week’s time.
Amorim needs better players, better recruitment, plus time and patience. He will have been even more aware of it when he switched his television off on Sunday night.
It is a lot to ask for in Manchester United’s current reduced circumstances – as this performance proved.
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