Fabrizio Romano issues Ruben Amorim sack update as Man Utd send message ahead of Chelsea clash

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim is coming under real pressure at this still early stage of the season. The Portuguese boss struggled to improve results after taking over from Erik ten Hag last season, and it hasn’t much improved this season despite a summer of big spending.

While it is still early in the season, the Red Devils have picked up only four points in as many games, and pressure is rapidly building on Amorim, keeping in mind the disastrous season of last that he was partly responsible, with United finishing firmly in the bottom half.

Some big signings were made this summer, with the likes of Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko and Matheus Cunha snapped up. The United board undoubtedly backed Amorim, but such investment only comes with added pressure, and we are already beginning to see that.

Chelsea will be looking to take full advantage of that added pressure when they head to Old Trafford this weekend looking to bounce back from a Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich and a draw with Brentford in the Premier League last weekend that saw them concede a late equaliser.

There has already been talk of Amorim being sacked in the near future, and with part-owner Jim Ratcliffe in town, those rumours have ramped up. Fabrizio Romano has reported that Ratcliffe’s presence is not to do with poor results, but Amorim has been warned that results do need to improve.

Romano told GiveMeSport: “What Sir Jim Ratcliffe did today in the last few hours, was fly into Carrington. Sir Jim Ratcliffe arrived and had several meetings. Manchester United made it very clear that those meetings were planned. All of those meetings were with people in management, with people from staff, and all those kinds of meetings were already planned, even before the Manchester derby loss of 3-0 by Manchester City.

"But in those meetings, there was also a conversation - a direct face-to-face conversation - with Ruben Amorim. Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to be involved, as I mentioned. Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to understand what's going on after spending important money in the summer, after backing the manager, and to understand why Manchester United are not performing.

"What I can guarantee is that this week, Manchester United have not advanced with any manager [who is] available to start conversations, or to go and get an agreement ready for the future. United have not prepared anything, they keep trusting Ruben Amorim. But different results are needed."

Maresca has his say

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca was asked about the pressure on Amorim during his press conference on Friday. He responded: “The only thing I can say is that I really appreciate Ruben. I've watched Ruben games since he was in Sporting. He's a magnificent manager.

“Like all the managers, when you start a new project sometimes you can struggle a little bit more or a little bit less but at the end you're going to struggle. I don't have any doubt that he's a fantastic manager.”

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