Reports have revealed how close Roberto De Zerbi was to becoming Manchester United manager and how Ruben Amorim was not included in the Red Devils’ initial six-man shortlist.
Amorim are slowly starting to turn things around at Old Trafford, with three wins in the Premier League lifting them above Liverpool into sixth place in the table. He was on the verge of being sacked for much of his Old Trafford career since taking over in November last year.
After Erik ten Hag made a poor start to last season, the Dutchman was handed a contract extension on the basis of winning the FA Cup and became the club’s preferred candidate.
Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has since admitted he had made a mistake in keeping Ten Hag, and a report in The Athletic detailed how Ten Hag signed a new contract that summer, with Man United leaders scouring the managerial market to find a replacement, and De Zerbi coming close to taking charge at Old Trafford.
Analysis of the candidates at the time focused on “playing an attacking 4-3-3 system” similar to that used by Ten Hag, and it was claimed that “an emphasis was placed on previous Premier League experience”.
This led to a six-man shortlist featuring Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino, Roberto De Zerbi, Thomas Frank, Marco Silva and Graham Potter.
“We have had informal contact with everyone,” but Tuchel and De Zerbi were the “top candidates” and Amorim was not considered due to his lack of tactical structure and Premier League experience.
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It is claimed that when director of football Jason Wilcox was “in discussions with his associates to explore who they considered to be the next great manager in football”, “his name kept coming up” along with Thiago Motta.
Manchester United were “leaning towards Tuchel and De Zerbi”, with the report detailing why neither was available.
“Tuchel traveled to Monaco for talks with United’s leaders two weeks after the FA Cup final, in which Ten Hag’s side outmaneuvered Manchester City and achieved a crucial victory. Tuchel received incredibly good reviews, but terms could not be agreed and the German was not suitable for the job at United. He had a difficult period at Bayern Munich and was set to take some time off from football after leaving the club just last month.
“De Zerbi therefore became the frontrunner and we discussed financial matters with the Italian player in line with what United thought was fair.” These terms were rejected and the club chose not to improve their terms. ”
In the end, Man United were unable to reach an agreement on terms with the manager they considered suitable to take over at the time, and stuck to a contract with Ten Hag, but following a poor start to the season, they scrapped the blueprint and decided to play the manager, who had no Premier League experience, in a completely different formation at Amorim.
