“Ruben and the team struggled in the Premier League. This will help us in the future”: United CEO’s plan

Ruben Amorim's arrival at the legendary and amazing Old Trafford is very similar to Pep Guardiola's arrival at the city rival Etihad. That's the idea of ​​Omar Berrada, the CEO of Manchester United who previously worked at City.

“Pep stuck to his principles and, given what he had won in the past, he had a huge amount of credit in the bank,” Berrada explained in an interview with “The Athletic” .

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In other words, after winning one world cup and the other in Spain and Germany, they had to endure a humble season, in which they finished 15 points behind champions Chelsea and without any silverware to chew on.

Worse still: the Catalan coach, once a valiant architect in the Blaugrana midfield, was told that he could not play in the Premier League like he had done at Barça and Bayern Munich. We already know how that story went…

“He was allowed to have that first season that was below his standards,” explained the now United CEO, who was the key strategist in hiring the Portuguese coach who had won 11 of his 11 league games. “The club backed him in the summer, the team started winning and created a winning cycle that has lasted until this season.”

But let’s get back to Amorim, who, of course, arrived in Manchester in November, which made his task even more complicated. Omar Berrada said it was a calculated risk. “[A mid-season signing] would make the team’s work even more difficult. We saw it as an investment for the coming seasons, because it would give Ruben time to get to know the team, the club and the Premier League.”

In other words, they now know everything about the needs and weaknesses of the squad and how to approach the competition, assured Berrada, who also has a rich past at Barcelona. And he said something relevant: the plan is to put together a team, in two or three years, capable of winning the Premier League.

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“We have a clear roadmap to get there,” he assured. “If Ruben started on July 1, we wouldn’t have all that knowledge, right? That’s how I feel about the seven or eight months he’s had. He’s struggled in the Premier League, the team has struggled. That’s why I feel he’s going to really help us in the future…”

Guardiola now has six Premier League trophies, two FA Cups, three Super Cups and, of course, one Champions League, among others.

Ruben Amorim has a long way to go to reach these levels, but the path is made by walking. For now, he seems to have the bigwigs on his side willing to invest in order to give him the conditions to compete. A 15th place in the Premier League or something similar will not be tolerated again.