Amorim confirms January deal to help ‘starving’ Red Devils as Wayne Rooney looks to return

Ruben Amorim has confirmed Manchester United’s plans to trigger Harry Maguire’s contract extension option at Old Trafford to help his “starving” squad.

Maguire Amorim was stripped of the captaincy under predecessor Erik ten Hag and put on the transfer market, but regained favor under the Dutchman towards the end of his time at the club and almost took his place west. decided to fight for Ham in the summer of 2023.

The England international became the world’s most expensive defender when he made his £80m switch from Leicester in 2019 and has since made 221 appearances for the club.

It was assumed that United were willing to terminate Maguire’s contract, and he was allowed to leave on a free transfer at the end of the season. But it was claimed last week that Amorim is ‘putting pressure’ on the club’s owners to take up the option of extending his stay by another 12 months.

The Portuguese boss has ‘identified him as one of the more reliable members of the dressing room since stepping into the dugout’ and confirmed ahead of his side’s clash with Liverpool on Sunday. The club is going to activate his option.

Amorim said: “I spoke to him (Harry) this morning and I told him he has to improve on the pitch, we need him a lot. Also, he has to improve as a leader. .we all know he was in a situation here but we are going to activate the option for him on the pitch he is a leader. “

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But Amorim was keen to point out that he needs other members of his squad to “step up” as leaders in the dressing room.

He added: “I don’t think it’s one thing about our team. It’s all teams. If you want to be a top, top team, you have to have a leader. We have that in the dressing room but they have to go forward. We need guys who are more experienced to help the younger players.

Amorim was also asked about Marcus Rashford, who was included in the squad for Monday’s clash at Newcastle, and The scrappy forward was confirmed to be out again due to illness.

He said: “It’s the same situation. At the moment he’s sick, he’s not training so we’ll see in the future but he’s like a normal player, then I make the selection and that’s it. I think he’s going to be out this week, he’s not training. We’ll see but I think he’s out this week.

Goalscoring remains a major problem for Amorim at United amid rumors they are desperate to sign a new striker, with Victor Guevara and Victor Osimhan among the fanciful options.

But rather than sign a new striker, which would prove difficult if the club are unable to move players in January, they could instead look to bring in a new coach to end their woes.

Former United defender Wes Brown believes Wayne Rooney – who was recently released by Plymouth – could be a good addition to Amorem’s staff.

“If Wayne wants to spend time as a striking coach, he’ll be absolutely brilliant at that,” Brown said. “He was one of the best goalscorers we’ve ever seen and he was a top playmaker as well. If he wanted to do that, he’d be very good at movement and things like that, he’s one of the best people to do that. was one of

“Can he help Rasmus Hodglund at United? I think all the young strikers would love to hear Wayne and his knowledge.

“When I was a young player I remember getting some advice from Laurent Blanc and little things like that can really help. If Wayne was on hand to give some advice, I’m sure everyone would listen. Will be ready.