Ruben Amorim is prepared to accept the humiliation of suffering Manchester United’s worst finish to a league season for 50 years in a bid to fast-track his Old Trafford rebuild. Amorim has been told that the war-chest being prepared for a raft of summer arrivals could be boosted by £50million if he guides United to a Europa League triumph that will bring automatic qualification to next season’s Champions League.
And the Portuguese coach will swallow the bitter disappointment of seeing his team end the Premier League campaign towards the bottom of the Premier League table to safeguard key players from injury and fatigue. United took a huge step towards booking a winner-takes-all date with Tottenham or Bodo/Glimt on May 21 by producing their best performance of the season to win 3-0 at Athletic Bilbao on Thursday night.
If they can keep the Spaniards at bay at Old Trafford this Thursday then Amorim’s men will have a shot at rescuing the season in spectacular fashion. And that will prompt the Reds’ boss to wrap his key players in cotton wool – despite the risk of an embarrassing Premier League placing.
A dressing room insider said: “Ruben has made it clear to everyone that the focus must now be on the Europa League. There’s no getting away from the reality that this has been a poor season domestically, so to guide the team to a place where they can still qualify for the Champions League is a remarkable achievement.
“Winning the Europa League would be huge in terms of what it would mean to the manager – but also in terms of what it would mean when it comes to providing him with the finances to rebuild the squad.”
Bruno Fernandes has been United’s most consistent performer this season – and Amorim will manage his captain’s minutes in the games against Brentford, West Ham and Chelsea ahead of a potential final. Harry Maguire, Alejandro Garnacho, Casemiro and Noussair Mazraoui come into the same category, while keeper Andre Onana and striker Rasmus Hojlund are also likely to be safeguarded because Amorim’s alternatives are so limited.
With the clash at top-five chasing Chelsea scheduled just six days ahead of the Europa final in Bilbao, there is a chance that the United team to face the top-five chasing Londoners could be severely understrength. United now face a Brentford team chasing European qualification knowing that they could finish in the bottom six if their Premier League results don’t improve.
Erik ten Hag guided the club to their lowest finish of the Premier League era last season when they came eighth. Under Sir Alex Ferguson they never finished lower than third in the Premier League, although they did only manage 13th place under the Scot during the FA Cup-winning season of 1989-90.
United’s lowest finish of the last 50 years was when they topped the old second division to win promotion back to the top-flight in 1975. Tommy Docherty’s side came 18th in 1973 before being relegated from the 22-team first division by finishing 21st the following season.
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