Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim is ready to grasp the challenge of a crucial 2025/26 campaign.
The Red Devils ended the 2024/25 season without a trophy, after losing out to Tottenham in the UEFA Europa League final, and they also failed to qualify for European competition.
However. the most damning conclusion from 2024/25 was United's final league placing, landing in 15th place as their lowest-ever Premier League spot.
An inconsistent start from Amorim, after arriving from Sporting CP in November 2024, saw United lose five of his first eight top-flight games in charge at Old Trafford.
That slide was not arrested in 2025, with nine league loses from the beginning of January, and just one win in their last nine games of the campaign.
Amorim has been backed by the club in the summer transfer market, with bold moves to bring in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, as part of a squad refit.
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There will be big tests ahead of Amorim's team, starting with a season opener against Arsenal on August 17, and he admitted a culture change is needed.
Amorim outlines plan to change struggling Man United
United's longest-serving player Luke Shaw has openly admitted to 'toxicity' at the club in the last 12 months and Amorim was not shy in stating how he struggled going into games last season.
"To tell you the truth, it's not how I returned home after games, it was how I left to go to games, because I felt sometimes we will struggle," as per BBC Sport.
"All the struggles we had in games, I felt it before. That was the hardest part. To go to games and know we are not going to be competitive - I was really frustrated."
Amorim also addressed some of the changes he's implemented in recent weeks, to look at concern over player performance and application, and the Portuguese coach insisted there would be no room for passengers moving forward.
"Sometimes, when you are losing, you might think let's change the standards a little bit for them [the players]. I didn't - and they saw it. Now they understand when I say something, I will do it.
"I don't treat players as babies. But they have rules now and that can change the way you train. I'm always on top. If you don't train in the right way, I have footage to show you. And I show you in front of everybody."
Amorim's hard line stance has yielded some positive preseason results, with with friendly wins in the USA over West Ham United and Bournemouth, but the true acid test will come against the Gunners at Old Trafford.
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