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 powerful popularity, having won two league titles during his time accountable for Sporting.
But Amorim looked out of his depth for much of his United tenure, with the club ending just fifteenth within the Premier League last season.
Amorim did guide the Red Devils to the Europa League final but an unconvincing run resulted in a colorless defeat to Premier League rivals Tottenham.
Manchester United showed signs of improvement under Amorim this season however the club were outside of the Champions League places on the time of his sacking.
Neville broadly agreed with United’s decision to axe Amorim, believing they’d no alternative after he began to criticise his superiors and continued to oversee unconvincing performances.
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Amorim piled pressure on the club’s board in the times leading as much as his departure but Neville believes the previous manager’s biggest mistake was in actual fact his treatment of Kobbie Mainoo.
Mainoo was seen as one among the brightest prospects at Old Trafford after a breakthrough season under Erik ten Hag and starring for runners-up England at Euro 2024.
However 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 spot within the team.
Mainoo asked to go away 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 among the largest winners from Amorim’s departure, starting all but one among United’s games for the reason that sacking on January 5.
Mainoo has even been one among Manchester United’s standout players over the past month, something that doesn’t reflect well on Amorim.
‘Kobbie Mainoo didn’t even get a probability under Ruben really,’ Neville said onthe Follow Football podcast.
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‘In the event you give it some thought now and take a look at Mainoo on this team, that appears just like the worst decision Ruben Amorim made.’
This will not be the primary time Neville has criticised Amorim’s treatment of Mainoo, previously accusing the manager of ‘killing’ the United academy graduate.
‘I need to admit, I never liked the handling of Mainoo,’ he said last month. ‘I feel we talked about that lots on this show. I never liked the handling of that.
‘When he [Amorim] said initially of the season that it was him or Bruno [Fernandes], I never agreed with that.
‘It killed Kobbie Mainoo. It killed him publicly. After which he never put him within the team in any respect, other than against Grimsby within the cup.’
Manchester United’s resurgence since Amorim was sacked has taken the Red Devils back into the Champions League places.
United won 4 games in a row under caretaker boss Michael Carrick before drawing 1-1 with West Ham last trip. They face Everton next Monday.
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