Why Roberto De Zerbi & Thomas Tuchel rejected the Man Utd job before Red Devils turned to Ruben Amorim as Erik ten Hag's replacement - revealed

Amorim endured a nightmare start to his tenure at Old Trafford as United ended the 2024-25 season trophyless and 15th in the Premier League, their worst finish in half a century. A loss in the Europa League final against Tottenham Hotspur also meant that the Red Devils would be without European football in the 2025-26 campaign. In the new season, the English giants once again experienced a tough start but they have now revived their form by winning three league matches in a row, including a win against champions Liverpool at Anfield.

According to The Athletic's Andy Mitten, the United hierarchy was convinced that they needed a new head coach by May 2024 due to a series of poor results under Ten Hag. Omar Berrada, who was yet to formally join United as their CEO, along with Sir Jim Ratcliffe, acknowledged that Ten Hag's time was up at Old Trafford. The management met in a meeting in Monaco, where the decision was finalised.

United implemented a full data analysis on the managerial market, although they had to be careful as their in-house data capabilities are not at the highest level. The search for a new manager was based on the team playing a 4-3-3 formation. Six candidates were soon shortlisted as managers like Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino, De Zerbi, Thomas Frank, Marco Silva and Graham Potter were on the Red Devils' radar.

Amorim was not on United's initial shortlist as the club at that point prioritised Premier League experience, which the Portuguese coach did not have. Director of football Jason Wilcox, however, later spoke to his contacts about who the next great coach was and that is when the 40-year-old's name came up, alongside Thiago Motta.

In the column, Mitten added: "United leaned towards Tuchel and De Zerbi — the latter considered a bit of a maverick but ultimately a top coach. Tuchel came to Monaco for a meeting with United’s leaders two weeks after the FA Cup final, in which Ten Hag’s side outsmarted and defeated Manchester City for a momentous win. Tuchel came across incredibly well, but no terms were agreed and the German wasn’t ready for the United job. He was to take a short break from football after a difficult time at Bayern Munich that led to him leaving that club only the previous month.

"So De Zerbi became the frontrunner, and financial terms were discussed with the Italian in line with what United felt was fair. Those terms were rejected, and the club chose not to improve them. De Zerbi’s next job was instead at Marseille in France, where he’s unlikely to be on the same level of pay as a United head coach would be getting."

In October, the leadership finally met at INEOS HQ in central London, where the approval came to terminate Ten Hag's deal. Another meeting was held in Barcelona later that month, where the consensus of the football executive landed on Amorim, and Berrada was charged with finalising the deal. The process started with assessing crucial details for any agreement — if Amorim was interested in taking the job immediately, his buyout clause in Lisbon, what his wage demands were likely to be, and who he’d want to bring with him and when.

The officials then met the Portuguese coach in Seville in a private house and the encounter went on for five hours. Amorim presented his idea and plans in detail, which impressed the Red Devils bosses. Amorim had even asked why the club wanted to appoint him midway into the season, to which they said that he would get acclimatised with the new league and the squad in the rest of the 2024-25 campaign.

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