Rio Ferdinand believes as many as 50 per cent of Manchester United’s current squad could be on the chopping block under Ruben Amorim.
The Red Devils’ miserable league campaign continued on Sunday, with a 2-0 home defeat by West Ham consigning them to 16th in the standings.
Under the Portuguese, United have won just six of their 25 league matches, with their last coming against relegated Leicester City on March 16. In fact, the last side to suffer defeat at the hands of the Red Devils that will not be playing in the Championship next season was Fulham all the way back in January.
Sunday’s defeat – a record-equalling ninth league loss at Old Trafford – has sparked widespread criticism, even from many who were sympathetic to the club’s prioritising of the Europa League, which could result in Champions League qualification.
Former Red Devils defender Ferdinand reckons that Amorim would wish to cut about half of the current roster and believes he needs at least two transfer windows to construct a squad capable of carrying out his vision.
‘I think he looks around the dressing room and thinks “If I could wave a magic wand, in the next five years at least 50 per cent of this team wouldn’t be here”,’ he said on Rio Presents. ‘Because they’re not good enough and they’re not right for the way he wants to play.
Rio Ferdinand believes that Ruben Amorim wishes to be rid of as many as half of Manchester United’s current squad
The Portuguese has presided the Red Devils’ worst-ever Premier League campaign, with the side yet to reach the 40-point mark
‘I look at him and think that he needs, minimum, two good windows of getting rid of the ones he doesn’t require but also getting in players that he really needs.’
United welcome Aston Villa to Old Trafford on Sunday before finishing their season against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Defeat by the Hammers now raises the serious possibility of the team failing to reach 40 points and finishing just outside the relegation places in 17th.
Yet, the Europa League offers the club the chance to salvage this embarrassing season. United face Tottenham, themselves in the midst of a woeful domestic term, in the final in Bilboa on May 21.
Qualification for the Champions League is expected to bring in around £80million and would allow the club to go after several high-profile targets in the transfer window. Ferdinand, however, is of the mind that ‘a lot of things’ need to work in his former club’s favour to bridge the chasm that now exists between them and their historic rivals.
He added: ‘There has to be a lot of things to go right for us to make a dramatic turn on this. He’s coaching the turn to understand what he wants, which has led to him getting terrible results in the Premier League consistently.
‘He needs to recruit dynamic athletes. I don’t want no mavericks, or players that hare frilly and can do pirouettes. No, no, people that can run past and over people as well.’
On Sunday, Amorim insisted that he knows how to fix the club’s domestic slump and has informed the board how he intends to address the issues this summer.
‘I talk with the board, with everybody and even with the fans in every moment,’ he said. ‘I have a clear feeling that I know what this team needs to be so much better, and that has helped me to maintain that level of not go down so much and not so high in some moments.’
United are set for another major squad overhaul this summer, regardless of the outcome of the Europa League final
Amorim doubled down on his comments after the West Ham game, admitting that United’s Premier League form is ’embarrassing’ and ‘unacceptable’.
‘It’s hard to find another word. I’m really embarrassed that in 25 games we’ve won six,’ he added. ‘Something is wrong in the way we are playing football, and sometimes it is not about the way we play tactically and technically.
‘It’s the way we face competition and the way we suffer and the way we get mad because we are losing, and the way we protect the goal. These things we need to improve, and sometimes it’s not just inside the pitch, it is outside the pitch.
‘That feeling that I’m talking to fight until the end, the way we face competition. It’s not okay to lose, it’s not okay to draw.’
