Ruben Amorim ready to get ‘ruthless’ with Man Utd stars ‘harming the team’ as five in danger of axe
RUBEN AMORIM is ready to get ruthless in his efforts to make struggling Manchester United a major force once again.
The Portuguese boss insists he will be brutally honest with those axed.
United would love to get Casemiro’s huge wages off the books, sell loaned out Marcus Rashford and Antony for the right price, while even misfiring duo Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee could go.
And Amorim, 40, insists he does not flex his muscles for the sake of it — but no one will doubt his ruthless streak when they see it.
Ahead of hosting Fulham in the FA Cup, he said: “I don’t like to be like that just to show strength.
“If the team is trying, and I understand that they are trying but they cannot do it, I am not ruthless.
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“But when I feel that it is something which is going to harm the team, then I am quite ruthless.
“Everybody understands that in football sometimes you stay, sometimes you have to move on.
“If I know how to explain it, I will do so because I like to be clear.
“I was a player and like to use that experience — when you are honest with someone, they can take it.
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“In the beginning maybe it is hard but they will understand.
“I’m quite honest with my players and sometimes they know they have to move on at the end of the season.
“We can talk about that in the end — now there are still a lot of games to play. But that is clear and not a difficult situation."
Amorim's first 16 Premier League games have yielded just five wins - and a whopping eight defeats.
He also set the record for the fewest number of matches to reach five home Prem losses in United history after just seven - half the previous record of 14 set by David Moyes.
Amorim knows it has not been good enough.
But despite the struggling start to life at Old Trafford and poor results so far, he still has the backing of the majority of fans and former United players alike.
Speaking to Rio Ferdinand with TNT Sports, Amorim said: "I feel that [people believing in me].
"At the same time, I'm embarrassed by that because if you look at our performance and you see our team sometimes on the pitch, it's really hard for me as a coach to take a lot of positives."