Ruben Amorim is back in the news on a weekly basis, having taken over at AC Milan this summer, allowing Manchester United supporters to hear from the former head coach.
During his unveiling as Milan boss, Ruben Amorim did apologise to Manchester United fans for his lack of a farewell message when he was sacked in January.
This is little consolation for the Portuguese 41-year-old’s terrible record as the United head coach and his belittling of academy players and youngsters during his time.
Now on his pre-season tour, as expected much of his press conference questions end up being centred around what went wrong at Old Trafford. In these, Amorim is humble enough to admit his fault in the disaster that was his 14 months at United.
What is your response to Ruben Amorim’s apology?
Ruben Amorim has finally addressed Manchester United fans, six months after his sacking
Ruben Amorim admits he made ‘mistakes’ at Manchester United
Currently in Australia, Amorim has faced reporters ahead of a Milan derby played in Perth. Speaking to Sky Italia, Amorim explained that he made mistakes but has grown from them since leaving United.
“The first thing is that it doesn’t matter anymore”, he explained to a huddle of press.
“That is the feeling. There’s a history, then something happens, the context changes, and you focus on the next challenge.
“I learned a lot. It would be hard to point to one thing, but the important thing that I clearly know is that I made a lot of mistakes.
“When you do this kind of reflection, and you understand that it was not just their fault, but also my fault, I think you can be a better coach and a better man.”
Amorim might be getting sick of questions about his former, but with Milan and United meeting in pre-season, the questions will get a lot tougher. In particular, Amorim’s admission of mistakes won’t be good enough, especially when he owes his biggest mistake so much more.
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Amorim owes Kobbie Mainoo an apology for treatment at United
While it is surprising that Amorim even managed to admit his wrongdoing, it ultimately isn’t enough. If he has truly learned from his mistakes, he owes Kobbie Mainoo an apology.
Mainoo was treated poorly by Amorim, with a lack of game time and comments that painted a false narrative of the 21-year-old United academy graduate. Amorim almost drove Mainoo away from his boyhood club, only for Michael Carrick to come in and revive his career, simply by giving him some game time.
It was almost insulting to the fanbase and Mainoo that Amorim was using the likes of Manuel Ugarte over him, and it was absolutely to the detriment of the team.
Mainoo will be eager to play against Milan – not in the Champions League as they haven’t qualified – but in this pre-season clash, to prove to the man who stunted his career for over a year that he was very wrong.
In this game, Amorim can prove he learned from his errors by reaching out to make amends, admitting to Mainoo he was wrong, and putting the whole situation in the past. This obviously wouldn’t be done in public, but we can only hope that it does happen.
Mainoo was his biggest mistake, and ultimately, it cost him his job as the domino effect of not having Bruno Fernandes as a 10 and the unbalanced midfield without Mainoo in there.
Diogo Dalot has suggested Amorim will be looked back on favourably, and perhaps he will in terms of resetting the club culture, but his treatment of Mainoo needs to be acknowledged. This is both for the player himself and any young midfielders at Milan who may look at this situation with concern.
Amorim admitting his mistakes is a good start for a coach who was incredibly stubborn at United to his own end. But he needs to go even further; he owes it to Mainoo.
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