Amorim told Ten Hag problem he must ‘immediately’ fix, as Man Utd warned appointment is doomed to fail

Ruben Amorim has been told by a former Manchester United coach he must quickly demonstrate a new style of play in order to succeed at Old Trafford, though a second pundit has expressed a far more bleak view.

Man Utd sacked Erik ten Hag on Monday and have quickly begun the process of landing Amorin as his replacement. The Red Devils have already agreed a contract with Amorim and are in talks with his current club, Sporting CP, over the finances of a potential deal.

United are prepared to activate Amorim’s €10million (£8.3m / $10.8m) release clause but look set to pay extra money on top of that.

Sporting want to be compensated for their backroom staff following Amorim to Old Trafford, and for the tactician’s 30-day notice period to be scrapped.

Mike Phelan, who was previously a player and then assistant manager for United, has given his verdict on the club’s managerial situation.

Phelan thinks impressing the United fans and hierarchy with a clear style of play will set Amorim up for success, as this is something Ten Hag never managed.

“We will find all the positives if you’re successful, usually, wherever they are but the Premier League is a monster,” he said on talkSPORT.

“It is a completely different environment and a lot of managers have found that difficult. Even the best managers have found it difficult and hard to operate in that arena.”

When asked about Amorim’s priorities at United, Phelan added: “The group of players that he’s got and he’s inheriting, that’s an important thing. He’s got to do his homework on them, he knows that results haven’t been great.

“But, I also think for Manchester United and a coach’s point of view, he has to create some sort of performance, an identity on the football field. Who are they? What are they going to be under this coach?

“That has to be a relatively immediate effect – it has to show itself quickly because that’s what he’ll get judged on pretty early. Then he can build from there, if he’s got some money left of course.”

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Man Utd sent ominous warning

While United fans will be excited about the start of a new era under Amorim, former Arsenal and Chelsea star Emmanuel Petit has told them not to get their hopes up.

He thinks United need to completely overhaul both their squad and transfer policy if they are to ever challenge for the biggest trophies once again.

“United can sign anyone as the new manager, nothing will change because of the team,” Petit said. “For years, they’ve bought the wrong profile and players, they were obsessed with buying big-profile names rather than players they needed.

“Look at what Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola did, they signed players they needed for their teams to compete, not just big names. United can bring the best player in the world in each position, but that doesn’t make them work together well as a team.

“That’s where United need to look at now, fix the squad. Bruno Fernandes is an example, he was amazing when he first joined, but he’s declined year by year.”

Petit’s comments follow Jamie Carragher saying on Tuesday that United must abandon their pursuit of ‘stellar names’ and instead use data to identify their top targets.

“As an outsider looking in, it feels like United are too obsessed with stellar names rather than paying enough attention to their underlying numbers. That is certainly the case with recent player deals,” he said.

“Matthijs de Ligt struggled at Juventus and Bayern Munich, so why was there an assumption he would hit the ground running at Old Trafford? Manuel Ugarte was a substitute at Paris St-Germain, and I am afraid Joshua Zirkzee looks miles off being a Manchester United player.”

READ MORE: Ranking every player Erik ten Hag signed for Man Utd from WORST to BEST

Man Utd latest: January signing pursuit, Amorim explanation

Meanwhile, United reportedly hope to make Bayern Munich left-back Alphonso Davies one of the first new arrivals under Amorim.

The 39-year-old tends to play either a 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1 formation, and United believe Davies could thrive in either of these systems as a wing-back.

However, it will be tough to win the race for the Canada star as he is eyeing a free transfer to Real Madrid when his Bayern contract expires next summer.

Separate reports have detailed why Amorim has not ended up at either Liverpool or Manchester City.

Liverpool previously targeted Amorim as a possible successor to Jurgen Klopp, while City have been backed to swoop for the Portuguese if they discover that Pep Guardiola wants a new challenge.

The i newspaper claims Liverpool snubbed Amorim as he is intent on playing a back-three, and this was a ‘deal-breaker’ for the Reds.

A move to City would have made sense given the fact Sporting’s director of football, Hugo Viana, will soon replace Txiki Begiristain at the Etihad. However, City encountered similar issues to Liverpool, as they do not view Amorim as the right fit stylistically.

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