Sir Alex Ferguson’s former assistant Rene Meulensteen has urged Ruben Amorim to drop one of the popular players in Manchester United’s team next season
There were only a handful of Manchester United players who seemed able to adapt to Ruben Amorim’s system when he arrived last season.
Bruno Fernandes and Amad were the standout performers during the difficult campaign but Harry Maguire also surprised fans with his level.
Alongside having some important attacking contributions, Maguire looked more solid defensively in the system under Amorim, mainly since he had less ground to cover.
He was rewarded with a contract extension in January, with the club activating their option to place another year on Maguire’s existing deal. Now, the defender is contracted until June 2026.
Despite this, Sir Alex Ferguson’s former assistant Rene Meulensteen has advised Amorim to drop Maguire from the team next season if he wants United to improve.
Meulensteen urges Amorim to drop Maguire
Meulensteen, 61, spent six years at Old Trafford as a first-team coach and worked closely with Ferguson. He believes that there will be ‘a lot of question marks’ if Maguire and André Onana are in the team next term, even with the offensive unit being strengthened.
The Dutchman has also warned about that he will need to show greater amounts of flexibility than he has done in his opening months in charge of the club.
“I think if United start the season with Andre Onana and Harry Maguire in defence then there will still be a lot of question marks in the unit and other teams will take advantage of that,” Meulensteen told InstantWithdrawalBettingSites.
“You can strengthen with Viktor Gyokeres, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo alongside Bruno Fernandes but the midfield and the defence will still be overrun.
“The minimum has to be to get back into the Champions League, but Amorim has to be careful because not having an adaptable system is not a clever thing to do.
“You have to be flexible and be able to adapt when needed.”
Who would replace Maguire?
Maguire was the main starter in the central centre-back role last term but it does seem likely that he becomes more of a squad player next term if Matthijs de Ligt is fully fit.
The aerial presence of Maguire will still certainly be useful but in the final form of Amorim’s team, it feels like that player might need some more attributes.
There have even been suggestions that Leny Yoro could take on that role, although his abilities do seem more suited to the wide centre-back position at this moment in time. He was tested there a couple of times last term.
Ayden Heaven even played in the centre during one of the post-season tour games, but it feels like De Ligt will be the number one choice heading into the new season.
Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is streamed live every Thursday at 12:30 pm (BST) on the United View YouTube channel.