Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim said that the team will be focusing on changing the mind of co-owner Jim Ratcliffe who in a recent interview had criticized some players of the current squad, saying they were not good enough and were overpaid.
“If we’re being honest, in this moment everybody — me, all the players — we are underperforming this season. We can always change that, so I include myself in that part of ‘underperforming’,” Amorim told reporters.
“You are talking about players like Casemiro, for example, that won everything (with Real Madrid) and we know that these kind of players can play so much better. So that is the focus and he was honest on that. The focus is to change his mind and to change all the people’s minds,” he added.
Ratcliffe, however, had showered Amorim with praise saying that the Portuguese was “outstanding young manager” who would be at the club for a long time.
“It’s a little bit the character, we are quite similar. I always felt the support of the board and especially from Sir Jim,” Amorim said.
“All these conversations I already had in the past with them. After matches, they went to the dressing room, talked to me to explain this. To say it publicly is really good for the coach. But I continue to say the same thing, we need results and we need to improve the team,” he added.
United are currently 14th in the Premier League standings, 36 points behind leaders Liverpool, and host Real Sociedad in the Europa League last-16 second leg on Thursday after the first leg in Spain ended 1-1.
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Mason Mount returned to training after recovering from a muscle injury which has kept him sidelined since December, but Amorim said Thursday’s game comes too soon for the midfielder. Manuel Ugarte is also back after missing United’s last two games but centre backs Harry Maguire and Leny Yoro will not play on Thursday.
(With agency inputs)
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