Under-fire Ruben Amorim suggested even the Pope could not make him change his approach having been reassured by Sir Jim Ratcliffe that he does not need to fear white smoke from Manchester United.
Pressure is mounting on the Portuguese after the club’s worst top-flight campaign in 51 years and Europa League final loss to Tottenham was compounded by a sluggish start to the new season.
United suffered an embarrassing Carabao Cup exit at League Two Grimsby and Sunday’s 3-0 derby loss at Manchester City meant they have secured just four points from their first four Premier League games.
Amorim knows the spotlight is on him heading into Saturday evening’s match against Chelsea but believes he has the backing of the boardroom after speaking to co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe on Thursday at Carrington.
Asked what they had spoken about, the United boss said with a laugh: “New contract. He was offering me a new contract.
“No, it’s normal things, just to show the support, explaining that it’s a long project. He said many times ‘this is my third season’. For me it’s not, but normal things.
“(I) spoke with him, with Omar (Berrada, chief executive), with Jason (Wilcox, director of football) just trying to see all the data around the team, so a normal meeting and we had several.
“But in this moment it is normal people pay attention to that.”
United have been boosted heading into the Chelsea game by the return of Matheus Cunha and Mason Mount after injury ruled them out of last weekend’s Etihad Stadium encounter.
Amorim said of his approach after the City loss that “when I want to change my philosophy I will change but, if not, you have to change the man” – comments he says did not come up with Ratcliffe.
“No, no, no,” he said. “Not once. Not even the Pope, it will not change…this is my job, this is my responsibility, this is my life, so I will not change that, but I will change the system.
“There will be an evolution, but we need to make all the good steps.
“To tell you, if I’m a player and I have a coach that with a lot of pressure – it doesn’t matter if he’s all around the world – is saying ‘you need to change the system’ and I’m going to change in this moment, they will look at me in a different way.
“So, when you think about the impact that any decision is going to have on the team, everything is important.
“So, I will say the same thing. This will have an evolution. I’m doing things my way.
“Some guys do it in a different way, but it will change, so I hope to have the time to change, but it will change.”
Amorim, who said there was “no contact” with former club Benfica before Jose Mourinho took charge this week, is focused on success with United, whose squad he has reshaped this summer.
Alejandro Garnacho is among the high-profile departures and comes back to Old Trafford for the first time since his acrimonious £40million move to Chelsea.
The Argentina international returns fresh from Marcus Rashford, another member of the so-called “bomb squad”, scored a brace for Barcelona at Newcastle but Amorim is not concerned about such moves backfiring.
“Guys, I’m not concerned about that,” Amorim said when asked about Garnacho. “I just want to win games.
“I don’t care who plays for the opponent, what people are going to say in the end, if the other player is going to play well.
“They are good players, and they will play well if things happen. I’m just focused on winning the game. That is my only concern.”
When Rashford’s Champions League performance was mentioned, Amorim interjected: “And Rasmus (Hojlund). Rasmus scoring the first goal for Napoli, so I’m really happy for Rasmus also.”
