rewrite this title Ruben Amorim sets ambitious Premier League title target for Man Utd

Ruben Amorim has insisted he wants Manchester United to start challenging for the Premier League next season, refusing to entertain the notion that it will several years to build into it.

United are on course for their lowest ever Premier League finish to conclude a tumultuous season on and off the pitch, falling far beyond even last term’s eighth place.

With consistency still proving tough to come by after a recent run of four Premier League games without defeat was ended by Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night, United are more likely than not to finish in the bottom half of the table for the first time since 1989/90. Any lower than 13th and it would be a worst placing since relegation from the top flight back in 1974.

But the demand on Amorim, as it was on all his predecessors, is delivering major trophies. United have still picked up silverware more often than most clubs in recent times, but the league is the bread and butter and there has been no genuine challenge since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.

Although a squad rebuild is required to give Amorim players better suited to his tactical system, the Portuguese coach ambitiously doesn’t want to hide behind excuses of needing time for that – he has only recently admitted that time is something he doesn’t think he’ll have.

“I don’t want to think we need a lot of years to be competitive. I can’t think like that, I cannot manage that, it’s not in me. That’s why I’m putting pressure on myself,” he told reporters this week.

Amorim added that United won’t realistically be the “biggest challengers in the next year or two years”, but still wants to see huge improvements before then. Reading between the lines, having also said four years is too long, he is targeting 2027/28. That also ties in with blueprints from senior executives to deliver the club’s 21st title to coincide with the 150th anniversary.

“We are changing a lot of things inside the club and we know it will take a lot of time, but I will not say I need a lot of years,” the coach continued.

“Next year is our goal. I’m not saying we’re going to win the title in the next year, I’m not crazy. I’m saying I don’t want this conversation that we need a lot of years and let’s keep it calm – no, we are in a rush. We are suffering a lot for next year to be so much better.

“I don’t want to be the guy that is sitting here saying we need a lot of time. I will not be that coach. All the teams, they are already in a place where we need a lot to catch them and they will improve again next season. I want to focus on our strengths and then use our club to try and bring in one or two big players in.

“I cannot manage saying in four years, we still try something. For me, we will start next season. We need to be so much better because this is a massive club and I want to put that pressure on me and everybody here.”

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