No more excuses: Amorim must now deliver at United

MANCHESTER United are looking leaner and meaner after being stripped to the bone and rebuilt in the recent transfer window.

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It seems the fallen giants have finally broken the shackles that have weighed Old Trafford down for years - a legacy of bloated squads, misfiring stars, dressing-room disharmony and a muddled recruitment plan often at odds with the managers’ philosophies.

Ruben Amorim, now in his second season at the helm, can no longer lean on those crutches. The firesale of unwanted assets and a raft of carefully structured loan exits has finally cleared the path for him to implement his style of play - something he spoke about at length last season as United bumbled their way to a nightmare 15th-place finish.

Failure to secure European football, along with United’s tricky financial situation, seemed to jeopardise their chances of moving up the table. The bigger issue, though, was how to shift the pile of deadwood clogging the system — high-profile stars not fit for Amorim’s purpose, or that of his predecessors.