Manchester United’s first match since the transfer window slammed shut sees the Red Devils host Leicester City at Old Trafford on Friday evening, with a spot in the fifth round of the FA Cup at stake for the winners.
Cup competitions provide United’s only hope of silverware this season, with Rúben Amorim’s side lingering in the bottom half of the Premier League table – and their points tally places them closer to the relegation zone than the UEFA Champions League qualifying spots.
Previously, Amorim told reporters that Manchester United were striving to strengthen their squad on deadline day but no move came to fruition, and the 40-year-old revealed in his pre-Leicester press conference that the club “doesn’t want to make the same mistakes that we did in the past.”
“The club is taking its time – we know the urgency of the moment with the team, but I think everyone here doesn’t want to make the same mistakes that we did in the past, so we have to improve the players that we have and win some games and then in the summer, we’ll see. We’re being really careful with transfers because we did [make] some mistakes in the past.”
At first glance, it was a relatively weak transfer window for the Red Devils. Marcus Rashford, Antony and Tyrell Malacia all left the club last month, with the arriving Patrick Dorgu and Ayden Heaven lacking comparable experience.
Amorim accepted that “it’s going to be […] really hard until the end of the season. Then we’re taking the risk that you talk about, because we want a different thing in our team and we want different profiles.”
“We’re taking some risks, but it’s the way we want to proceed,” he told reporters, adding that “I knew when I chose this profession that you have the risk of the results and I already knew when I came here, I looked at the schedule, I looked at the team and I understood that my decision of changing everything, taking these hard decisions in the middle of the season without new signings, is a danger for the coach.”
“But since day one, with good results or bad results, I have a clear idea of what I want to do and I take these risks because, in the end, I think it’s going to pay off in the end. But I know, I’m not naïve, I already said that many times, that this is a sport of results and we are in a difficult situation.”