Amorim has repeated Man Utd’s Pogba blunder by axing “unplayable” star

Manchester United’s form in the Premier League so far this season has been nowhere near good enough for where the club should expect to be.

There are only four teams between the Red Devils and Southampton at the bottom of the table, with the Saints still two points behind Derby’s all-time low tally of 11, as they sit 15th in the division.

They have lost 12 of their 26 matches in the Premier League, winning just eight, and they needed a big comeback against Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday to avoid it becoming 13.

It is not as simple as pointing to one reason, whether that be the ownership, Erik ten Hag, Ruben Amorim, or the players, as to why United have been so poor in the Premier League.

Instead, it is a combination of a number of factors and recruitment, both in terms of their signings and their decisions on who to sell, has been an influential factor in that.

One strand of recruitment United have let themselves down with has been their treatment of academy talent, as they have allowed some top players to move on from Old Trafford after coming through the youth system.

Man United’s academy graduate mistakes

Firstly, United sold academy graduate Scott McTominay to Napoli for a reported fee of £25m last summer and the Scotland international has scored six goals in 28 matches in the Serie A this season.

Meanwhile, no current player for Amorim has scored more than six league goals, with Amad Diallo and Bruno Fernandes tied on six, which suggests that the club could have benefitted from his attacking talent this season.

A year prior to McTominay’s exit, United allowed Anthony Elanga to join Nottingham Forest for a fee of £15m, after a return of four goals and four assists in 55 matches for the Red Devils at first-team level.

The club were not patient with the Sweden international and the Tricky Trees have benefitted from their impatience, as the winger has been in terrific form over the past 18 months or so at the City ground.

As you can see in the table above, Elanga has provided a huge threat as a creative force for Forest with his ability to provide his teammates with ‘big chances’ to score.

This suggests that the 22-year-old whiz, who has more assists than any United player in the Premier League this season, is another one who the club let leave too soon.

Perhaps the most famous example of United allowing an academy graduate to leave too soon, however, was when Sir Alex Ferguson failed to convince Paul Pogba to stay in 2012.

Manchester United’s Paul Pogba blunder

The French maestro came up through the academy system at United and made three appearances in the Premier League during the 2011/12 campaign, before his contract came to an end that summer.

Ferguson revealed that the 19-year-old starlet had agreed to join Juventus a “long time ago” before his move was made official in the summer of 2012. The legendary boss said: “(It) is disappointing. I don’t think he showed us any respect at all, to be honest.”

Perhaps his lack of minutes in the first-team, with three league outings, is what convinced Pogba to decide to ditch Manchester for Turin, and that possible blunder by Sir Alex allowed Juventus to land him for a compensation fee of £800k.

Of course, after 179 appearances, 34 goals, and 32 assists, for Juventus in all competitions, United later swooped to bring him back to Old Trafford in a world-record £89m deal.

This shows that the Red Devils made a huge mistake with Pogba as they had to pay a world-record fee to sign a player they had on their books in the academy and lost for just £800k, because he developed into a fantastic player during his time in Turin.

Amorim may, now, have repeated a similar blunder by allowing Marcus Rashford to move on from the club in the January transfer window, instead of spending more time with him to help him get back to his best in a red shirt.

Marcus Rashford’s form since leaving United

The England international, who has scored 138 goals in 426 matches for United, was sent out on loan to Aston Villa in the winter window, and the Premier League side have the option to sign him permanently for £40m.

Rashford played 15 times for United in the first half of the season and contributed with four goals and four ‘big chances’ created, which is a fairly unremarkable return for a player of his quality.

Amorim omitted him from the matchday squads and claimed that the attacker’s lack of intensity in training was the reason behind his lack of minutes on the pitch.

Whilst there is absolutely blame to be placed at Rashford’s door, as he should have put the work in at training to earn his place in the squad, the Portuguese head coach was also quick to move on from the attacker instead of spending time to help the player improve in that aspect of his work.

As you can see in the table above, Rashford, who has been described as “unplayable” by analyst Raj Chohan, has caught the eye already for Villa.

The English speedster has already created four ‘big chances’ in three Premier League games, whilst Bruno Fernandes (11) is the only United player with more than five ‘big chances’ created in the entire season so far.

These statistics suggest that Unai Emery is getting the best out of Rashford and that he has seen enough from the star in training to consistently select him, which is why Amorim should have given the forward more time to show that to him at Old Trafford.

Now, Villa could, potentially, sign a sublime talent at Premier League level for a fee of just £40m, which United could go on to deeply regret in a similar way to how they did when Pogba left for just £800k.

However, Rashford turns 28 later this year and it seems unlikely that he will return to United – should Villa exercise their option – for a world-record transfer fee in the future.