Dion Fanning: After summer of hope, Amorim's United still at risk of becoming a zombie club

At Old Trafford today, plenty will be revealed. For Mikel Arteta, this is a season when Arsenal must have a significant triumph. Opinions on how good Arsenal were in losing will have little currency.

NEW FACES: Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha of Manchester United interact with Ruben Amorim, Manager of Manchester United during the pre-season friendly match between Manchester United and ACF Fiorentina. Pic: Matt McNulty/Getty Images

After last season’s game at Old Trafford between Manchester United and Arsenal, Ruben Amorim decided to reassure his club’s supporters about the future. “Manchester United,” he told them, “will never die.” 

With Amorim, we can never be certain if this was a rallying cry or simply a bald statement of fact, leading on to something miserable. “Manchester United will never die," he will say, before adding, ”but they will lead a pitiful and degenerate existence, abandoned and shunned by their peers.” 

Amorim’s observations of United’s failings were one of the highpoints of a forgettable Premier League season. Even if Roy Keane was sitting in the pundit’s chair, nobody could outflank Amorim in terms of brutal honesty.

But Amorim is back refreshed and, like so many, overflowing with pre-season optimism. One of the essential ingredients for pre-season optimism is forgetfulness, not just of the season before, but of every other misplaced bout of pre-season optimism.

Despite Amorim’s pronouncement of eternal life, Manchester United’s prognosis was not good last season. On the field, it was their worst year in the top division since they were relegated in 1974. United won one more game last year than they did in that season of 42 matches. They did avoid relegation, which of itself should be enough to counter Amorim’s claim last January that his side were “the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United”.

But that feeling has drifted away as the endless promise of summer returned. Jim Ratcliffe warned that United could have been bust by Christmas if they hadn’t implemented cost saving measures which included making a third of non-football staff redundant. But Christmas is a long way away during the glory and promise of summer.

"Where do you want to spend the money?” Ratcliffe asked in January. “Do you want to spend it on operating the club, or do you want to spend it on the squad? What we want to do is invest in the best players in the world if we can, rather than spend it on, I'm afraid, free lunches."

The free lunches have gone but this weekend we will see if United have invested in the best players in the world this summer or torched a significant amount of cash again.

Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Šeško have cost the club more than €200million. They will also look to bring in midfielder Carlos Baleba from Brighton. These signings are designed to improve United’s appalling goalscoring record. If there is one thing that will frustrate Manchester United supporters it is not scoring goals. United failed to score in 11 Premier League games under Amorim and scored only 44 goals in total. They might take hope from the fact that they underperformed their xG but they seemed a long way last season from taking comfort in xG stats.

But the summer has brought hope. Amorim has spoken positively and says he wants to be at the club for 20 years, when the post Ferguson average is two.

There were times last season when it seemed his time would end in months but he is still at Old Trafford. But United begin with Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool in their first eight Premier League games. There will be plenty of tests of Amorim’s new optimism.

This weekend there will be scrutiny of the forwards he has signed, especially Šeško, who according to authoritative reports was favoured by more people at Arsenal than he might have been at United. Yet Arsenal decided not to go for him. Whether this was stubbornness on Mikel Arteta’s part as he faced the chorus that Arsenal needed a top class striker or simply sound judgement remains to be seen.

The game between the two sides at Old Trafford last season was a moment when that consensus was at its loudest. Mikel Merino started in the forward line for Arsenal and after the game Declan Rice talked about the absence of a cutting edge.

Arsenal have made their own big striker signing but there are even more question marks about Viktor Gyokeres than there are about Šeško. At the age of 27, it may be that his development has come late and his promise wasn’t apparent during his time at Brighton which ended with his transfer to Coventry in 2021.

Certainly his 39 goals in the Primeira Liga merit attention but it may be that Arteta wants a forward he isn’t required to play all the time rather than a saviour. Martín Zubimendi, on the other hand, may be the most significant signing Arsenal or any of their rivals have made this summer.

The problems in that game at Old Trafford last season went beyond just a cutting edge and summed up Arsenal’s problems. Arsenal’s attempt to challenge Liverpool for the title was limp and it may be that it is not personnel but Arteta’s increasingly preposterous statements that are draining.

Yet Arsenal can benefit from the change experienced by their biggest challengers. Liverpool have overhauled their squad and they remain engaged in the Alexander Isak pursuit, which has definitely earned its right to be considered a saga at this stage.

After last season’s Carabao Cup triumph and securing a Champions League place, Newcastle United might have hoped they, too, would be seen as contenders.

Eddie Howe receives a lot of praise from the English media who are always encouraging of those who might call them by their first name at press conferences.

As the Isak affair rumbles on, Newcastle have taken an untested path to the first rank this summer by trying to assert their right to be considered a big club through pity.

Look what we are going through, they say. Will anyone think of Eddie Howe in all this, commentators ask?

Among the precedents for bad behaviour, some have recalled when Wayne Rooney wanted to leave Manchester United.

But in that story – or any other – there are few memories of anyone saying, “I tell you what, it’s Alex Ferguson I feel sorry for.” When Rooney wondered about United’s direction in 2010 and seemed to be heading to Manchester City, nobody said “Poor Fergie”. Ferguson “put it to bed” and Rooney signed a new contract.

This, more than Isak’s refusal to play, is what is damaging Newcastle now. Eddie Howe is pitied, not feared. He has the sympathy of the English football commentariat.

For those who have tried and failed to emulate Ferguson at Old Trafford, there has often been sympathy as well. This is the time of the year when it is usually as good as it gets.

Amorim can tell journalists that he would like to be at the club for 20 years and with the previous calamities in the distance, he won’t be laughed out of the room.

That will change over the coming months but at Old Trafford today, more will be revealed. For Arteta, this is a season when Arsenal must have a significant triumph. Opinions on how good Arsenal were in losing will have little currency.

For Amorim, there is an urgency too. He must show that he is bringing United to life and that there is hope. Manchester United will never die, he insists. Then again, neither do zombies.