Ruben Amorim has admitted that he questioned his future at Manchester United in the aftermath of losing the Europa League final, but is now in a completely different place as his players have “connected” with him and started to show their true ability.
Amorim was under relentless pressure to succeed at Old Trafford after replacing Erik ten Hag, and did manage to guide United to a first European final since 2021. But defeat to Tottenham Hotspur by a single goal added further pain to a desperately disappointing domestic campaign—one that saw the Red Devils finish 15th, comfortably their lowest finish since the Premier League’s inception in 1992.
A summer overhaul, which saw Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Šeško arrive to refresh United’s frontline, was authorised to give Amorim the right profile of player to play in his favoured 3-4-2-1 system, and the Portuguese looks to have turned a corner after winning three games in a row—United failed to win back-to-back games of any kind in Amorim’s first 11 months in charge.
United’s form has lifted the gloom that has engulfed Old Trafford for as long as many people can remember, and victory over Nottingham Forest on Saturday could temporarily lift the club up to second in the Premier League table.
Ahead of the game, in an interview with Sky Sports, Amorim has opened up for the first time about the idea of quitting crossing his mind—something he has always distanced himself from doing in post-match interviews and press conferences in the past.
“It’s hard to say that. Sometimes, in some moments,” Amorim said, reflecting on the fact United also won only one of their first five games in 2025–26. “There were some moments that were tough to deal with, to lose so many games. That was so hard for me because this is Manchester United.
“The position that we had in the last year, putting all the attention on the Europa League and not winning. That was massive. I had some moments that I struggled a lot and I was thinking that maybe it’s not meant to be.
“Today is the opposite. So you can write this one. Today I feel and I know that was the best decision in my life. I want to be here but for that I need to win against Nottingham Forest.”
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Amorim was at pains to point out that United still have work to do and must not take their recent improvement for granted. But he did admit that the culture and belief at the club has moved forward a step—something that has helped the players pay attention to the finer details that had been letting them down in the past.
“It’s hard to say. We need to think positively, but we also need to be prepared that football is [up and down]. And we are not that team that I can say to you, no, no, no.
“Now we can lose here or there, but we are going to maintain. I trust in my players more. I think they trust me more. That will come with wins. And you can sense that because everyone now is saying that, how connected they are and they believe in the manager.
“It’s about winning games. It didn’t change a lot because against Arsenal, I saw the same team, so I don’t know.
“I think that we are in a better place, but it’s also really good to be always with that feeling and prepare that something can change. If we have that feeling, we’ll pay attention to the details and we’ll maintain that course of our path.
“I can say that we are a better team in this moment, and we feel that and we know that, and that can help us to overcome better the bad moments.”
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