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Ruben Amorim was sacked by Man Utd last month (Picture: Getty)
Gary Neville has revealed the ‘worst decision’ Ruben Amorim made during his underwhelming spell as Manchester United manager.
Amorim, 41, was sacked by the Premier League giants last month after just 14 months in charge.
The Portuguese boss arrived at Old Trafford was a strong reputation, having won two league titles during his time in charge of Sporting.
But Amorim looked out of his depth for much of his United tenure, with the club finishing just 15th in the Premier League last season.
Amorim did guide the Red Devils to the Europa League final but an unconvincing run ended in a drab defeat to Premier League rivals Tottenham.
Manchester United showed signs of improvement under Amorim this season but the club were outside of the Champions League places at the time of his sacking.
Neville broadly agreed with United’s decision to axe Amorim, believing they had no choice after he began to criticise his superiors and continued to oversee unconvincing performances.
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Manchester United legend Gary Neville (Picture: Getty)
Amorim piled pressure on the club’s board in the days leading up to his departure but Neville believes the former manager’s biggest mistake was in fact his treatment of Kobbie Mainoo.
Mainoo was seen as one of the brightest prospects at Old Trafford after a breakthrough season under Erik ten Hag and starring for runners-up England at Euro 2024.
But the midfielder fell out of favour after the change in manager, with Amorim initially claiming Mainoo was competing with influential captain Bruno Fernandes for a place in the team.
Kobbie Mainoo struggled under Ruben Amorim (Picture: Getty)
Mainoo asked to leave United on loan last summer and was expected to again push for a move in January before Amorim lost his job.
The 20-year-old has been one of the biggest winners from Amorim’s departure, starting all but one of United’s games since the sacking on January 5.
Mainoo has even been one of Manchester United’s standout players over the past month, something that does not reflect well on Amorim.
‘Kobbie Mainoo didn’t even get a chance under Ruben really,’ Neville said onthe Stick to Football podcast.
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‘If you think about it now and look at Mainoo in this team, that looks like the worst decision Ruben Amorim made.’
This is not the first time Neville has criticised Amorim’s treatment of Mainoo, previously accusing the manager of ‘killing’ the United academy graduate.
‘I must admit, I never liked the handling of Mainoo,’ he said last month. ‘I think we talked about that a lot on this show. I never liked the handling of that.
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‘When he [Amorim] said at the start of the season that it was him or Bruno [Fernandes], I never agreed with that.
‘It killed Kobbie Mainoo. It killed him publicly. And then he never put him in the team at all, apart from against Grimsby in the cup.’
Manchester United’s resurgence since Amorim was sacked has taken the Red Devils back into the Champions League places.
United won four games in a row under caretaker boss Michael Carrick before drawing 1-1 with West Ham last time out. They face Everton next Monday.
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