Credit : IMAGO/Uk Sports Pics Ltd
The 2024/25 season will not be one that Manchester United fans look back on favourably. For the first time since the inception of the Premier League, the club finished outside the top ten. Back in their prime, anything less than a Champions League finish would have been a travesty, but given the club’s current position, such a finish would now be seen as a pipe dream.
It wasn’t only domestically that they struggled. Although they made it to the Europa League Final, they failed to live up to expectations as favourites in Bilbao and fell to a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, meaning any chance of a saving grace for the season had gone up in smoke.
In light of this, and the precarious position both he and the club found themselves in following the defeat, Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim held his cards close to his chest when discussing the damage caused by the loss. As quoted on the club’s official website, he said:
“It’s in the future, I’m not going to talk about the future. This loss, the pain of losing this match. I can see it was clear, we were the better team but then we managed not to score again, so it’s very hard to win football matches but the guys tried everything to win the game. In the future, we will have time to assess everything.”
Amorim also tried to be as honest as possible when discussing United’s hopes for next season, continuing:
“I think I was always really honest with you guys. We didn’t perform perfect today, but we were better than the opponent, and the opponent also played. In the second half, we try everything – with the central defenders, with the players wide, crosses going inside the box. I think I’m really honest with you guys, so I expect the same and there are some days where I said we were really poor. I think today was not the day. We were not perfect. We have a lot to improve, but I am always honest with you guys.”
United went some way towards reshaping their squad during the transfer window, allowing players such as Jadon Sancho and Antony to leave on loan, with both seemingly considered detrimental to the club.
In terms of expenditure, United spent £246.30 million, with the biggest arrivals coming in the form of Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte and Matthijs de Ligt. The club’s most lucrative purchases were defenders, suggesting that then-manager Erik ten Hag had identified one of the roots of their problems.
However, that didn’t work either, and it ultimately spelled the end of the Dutchman’s tenure at Old Trafford. Despite delivering two more domestic trophies to the cabinet, his sacking, the departure of his backroom staff and the cost of bringing in Amorim reportedly cost the club more than £20 million.
This went some way towards leaving United either distracted or financially restricted, if not both. As a result, they failed to significantly improve the squad in January and were unable to turn their season around.
There was as much chaos on the pitch as there was off it. By the end of 2024, United had recorded just six league victories. Granted, one of them came against their great rivals from the blue side of Manchester, but it was hardly the form of a club with a credible shot at the European places, let alone the dominant United teams that preceded them and that many of the Old Trafford faithful remember so well.
They had five more months from that point to turn their season around, but little changed. They recorded even fewer victories in the second half of the season than the mediocre tally they had managed in the opening months, adding just five more wins.
United ended the season in their worst-ever Premier League position, finishing 15th. In what would previously have been considered a normal season, with 40 points traditionally viewed as the threshold for avoiding relegation, the Red Devils would only just have beaten the drop with their tally of 42 points.
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