Inside Ruben Amorim’s bitter Manchester United sacking as Oliver Glasner becomes leading contender for job

Ruben Amorim’s time at Manchester United is over after a total breakdown in the relationship between himself and the club.

The Portuguese head coach issued some startling comments on Sunday after a 1-1 draw with Leeds United, and on Monday morning, he was sacked.

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It brought an end to a tumultuous 14 months as Man United head coach, which saw the club finish 15th in the Premier League and lose the Europa League final.

Money was spent in the summer to improve the squad, and the Red Devils are currently fifth in the top-flight.

But performances and results have been inconsistent, while the tension between Man United’s Director of Football Jason Wilcox and Amorim were increasing over transfers and tactics.

Here, talkSPORT.com takes a deep dive into an explosive period of time at Old Trafford that has seen Amorim gone from being publicly backed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe to being sacked in the space of a few months.

What did Amorim say?

The writing was on the wall for Amorim after the club’s 1-1 draw at Elland Road.

During his post-match press conference, the former Sporting Lisbon boss indicated he wasn’t happy with how things were above him and that he wouldn’t be extending his contract.

He said: “I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the head coach.”

“I know my name is not [Antonio] Conte, [Thomas] Tuchel, or [Jose] Mourinho but I’m the manager of Manchester United,” Amorim continued.

“It’s going to be like this for 18 months or until the board decide to change. I’m not going to quit.

“I’ll do my job until another guy is coming here to replace me.”

These were bombshell statements, and heading into Monday morning, talkSPORT’s Chief Football Correspondent Alex Crook and Ben Jacobs reported that his future was in doubt, and by 10am Monday morning, he was gone.

Man United may have been inspired by Chelsea deciding to part ways with Enzo Maresca after he had a similar public disagreement with the board.

In a statement, Manchester United said: “Ruben Amorim has departed his role as Head Coach of Manchester United.

“Ruben was appointed in November 2024 and led the team to a UEFA Europa League Final in Bilbao in May.

“With Manchester United sitting sixth in the Premier League, the club’s leadership has reluctantly made the decision that it is the right time to make a change. This will give the team the best opportunity of the highest possible Premier League finish.

“The club would like to thank Ruben for his contribution to the club and wishes him well for the future. Darren Fletcher will take charge of the team against Burnley on Wednesday.”

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Explosive meeting

talkSPORT understands that a meeting before the Leeds game went spectacularly badly.

Wilcox met with Amorim to discuss plans for the second half of the season, where there was a discussion about tactics and formations.

There was a suggestion that the Man United head coach could be more tactically flexible.

This caused the 40-year-old to blow up and suggest that he can’t be tactically flexible without support in the transfer market.

Amorim also accused Wilcox of interfering, and it fractured what was already a tense relationship.

Earlier in the season, Amorim had hinted at a potential change in formation due to needing time and money to make his favoured one work.

He said: “I think we are doing things; sometimes I have one idea, Jason and the board has another idea but every decision we make, we need to reach a common ground,

“That is really important because you don’t need to make everything for the manager because the manager can change and then you need to change everything. But you also need to understand (that) the manager understands the way of playing.

“I have the feeling that if we have to play a perfect 3-4-3, we need to spend a lot of money and we need time.

“So, I’m starting to understand that that is not going to happen. So, maybe I have to adapt.”

But at their last meeting, he bristled at any suggestion of changing, indicating mixed messages from Amorim.

Antoine Semenyo

Man United were hugely interested in making a January move for Antoine Semenyo due to his release clause.

talkSPORT understands he is set to join Manchester City instead due to the chance to win titles immediately and work with Pep Guardiola.

But the Red Devils were willing to splash the cash on Semenyo by bringing summer money forward.

Amorim was informed that this £65million wouldn’t be re-purposed for January, and the club are still anticipating a quiet winter window.

The club informed Amorim that they didn’t want to spend this money and were only willing to do it due to Semenyo being available.

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Other transfers

Man United spent a lot of money during the summer to strengthen the squad, with particular focus on the front three, which Amorim was in favour of.

But a central midfielder didn’t arrive and neither did a right wing-back, and these are positions that Amorim wanted strengthening to suit his favoured 3-4-3 formation.

There were also tensions in the summer over the signing of Benjamin Sesko, with the head coach preferring Ollie Watkins.

talkSPORT understands that Amorim saw Watkins as someone who could come in and make an instant impact.

Sesko has only scored two Premier League goals since his huge move from RB Leipzig, and Watkins has managed the same in his last two matches, so perhaps Amorim had a point there.

talkSPORT also understands that the 40-year-old prepared a January list of transfer targets that were vetoed by Wilcox and Omar Berrada.

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Regarding the summer, sources within Old Trafford suggest that they backed Amorim all the way in the transfer market, but he could argue the opposite.

What’s next?

Amorim will collect the remainder of the £10million he was owed in salary on his contract that was due to expire in June 2027.

Meanwhile, Darren Fletcher will take interim charge for the Red Devils, with their game against Burnley on Wednesday night, live on talkSPORT.

But talkSPORT understands that the club are looking at a separate interim until the end of the season before making a full-time appointment then.

Oliver Glasner is one of the leading contenders to replace Amorim following the incredible job he’s done at Crystal Palace.

The Austrian also favours a back three, but it seems unlikely a quick appointment will be made with INEOS set to weigh up all the candidates.