Ruben Amorim named Alejandro Garnacho as one of three Manchester United players who lack “quality” ahead of a summer in which he wants to bring in “two big players”.
Amorim arrived as United’s new head coach in November but has struggled to make the desired impact following the dismissal of Erik ten Hag, with the Red Devils sitting 13th in the Premier League table ahead of their clash with Manchester City on Sunday.
It’s widely accepted that the Portuguese boss needs new recruits this summer as the current crop struggle to adapt to his philosophy and system.
And Amorim confirmed ahead of the Manchester derby that he wants to bring in a couple of “big players”.
“We need to be really good in recruitment,” said Amorim. “We need to know our system, the way we play, and the players have to be perfect for that position. We know what to do, we will see next season.
“I just want to focus on our strengths and bring one or two players, big players.
“We need to focus, we are doing all the stuff to be next season so much better. In my idea, I cannot manage this thing of ‘in four years we will try something’. We need to be so much better. This is a massive club
“It’s characteristics that we don’t have in our squad, trying to see the gaps, when I say big players I’m not saying from Real Madrid etcetera, it’s big players in the way I see the game.”
Garnacho has been heavily linked with an exit since Amorim joined the club having been one of the players to have struggled most to cope with his change of role in the side, with the new boss asking him to play as an inverted forward.
And Amorim admits “something is missing” in the Argentinian’s game right now, claiming he and his fellow forwards “are not doing things with the quality they should do”.
“I think they need to spend more time in that position because we didn’t have a lot of games like Nottingham, like just attacking. We have to spend more time there,” Amorim said.
“And also in that moment, if you look at Rasmus (Hojlund) and Josh (Zirkzee) and Garna (Alejandro Garnacho) they want this, they try to shoot – especially Garna.
“They want it really bad, but we are not doing the things with the quality that they should do. So sometimes it’s hard to explain because we have the situations, everybody knows where Garna wants to put the ball, but something is missing and maybe it’s just the moment of the players.”
Amorim has though been impressed by the impact of Ayden Heaven, who joined the club from Arsenal for £1.5m in January.
“We have to give credit to Jason [Wilcox – Man Utd technical director]. Jason did a great job. He’s paying attention to those details,” Amorim added.
“Ayden is a kid that arrives here, worked really well and then with some injuries, he had the opportunity and shows a lot of qualities. So that can also change your recruitment.
“So if we we’re thinking ‘Licha [Lisandro Martinez] has an injury, we need a left-footed centre-back’, but now we have this kid, so we can save money for another thing. So that is really important and the door is open for young kids.”