Manchester United savaged by UK media, Ruben Amorim offers to leave ‘without compensation’

Ruben Amorim says if Manchester United no longer want him he will quit “without any conversation about compensation” after his team’s painful Europa League final defeat to Tottenham.

Brennan Johnson scored the only goal of the game shortly before half-time in Bilbao on Wednesday and toothless United were unable to find a reply.

Defeat compounds a disastrous season for the club, who will finish in their lowest league position since they were relegated in 1974, and the reaction from media and pundits has been fierce.

Watch every game of The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup LIVE on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.

'Get ready for a parade' - Full Presser | 12:19

United are 16th in the table with one league game remaining, against Aston Villa on Sunday.

An emotional Amorim told reporters after the game that he would stick to his guns despite a terrible run of results since he took over from the sacked Erik ten Hag in November.

The former Sporting Lisbon boss, who has won just six Premier League games at United, said he still believed in his ability to turn things around at Old Trafford but would walk if he was no longer wanted.

“If the board and the fans feel that I’m not the right guy, I will go the next day without any conversation about compensation,” he said.

“But I will not quit. I’m really confident in my job. And as you can see, I will not change nothing in the way I do things.”

Amorim refused to talk about the future of the club, saying United needed to “deal with the loss and the pain of losing this match”.

“What I can say is that I think it was clear we were the better team but then we managed not to score again and that is really hard to win football matches but the guys tried everything to win the game,” he said.

“In the future we will have time to assess everything.”

United were within striking distance of the Champions League places when Amorim took over as manager but they are now 27 points adrift of fifth-placed Chelsea.

Next season will be their first without European football since the 2014/15 campaign.

“We need to understand that it is tough for a club like ours not to be in the Champions League,” said Amorim.

“But we have to use the other side. If we have more time, we have more time to think, to work during the week and to be better in the Premier League. That will be our focus.”

READ MORE

WRAP: Ange mic drop as Aussie turns Spurs torture into $208m triumph

‘HUMBLE PIE: World reacts as Ange delivers ‘coldest moment in football history’

‘WANT TO STAY’: Ange reveals unfinished Spurs business after triumph, explains infamous ‘boast’

Manchester United's head coach Ruben Amorim reacts at the end of the Europa League final soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao, Spain, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) Source: AP

UK media did not hold back in its assessment of United’s season, and their performance in Thursday final.

Oliver Holt, writing for the Daily Mail, delivered perhaps the most scathing assessment.

“They were abject. Utterly abject. Their performance had no redeeming features,” Holt wrote.

“They were an embarrassment to themselves and to their fans, to Sir Alex Ferguson, who was watching in the stands, to their glorious history and to English football.”

Heaven knows what fate awaits them now at the hands of Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The players’ canteen may well have gruel on the menu next season. This final was their escape hatch, their one shot at climbing out of the mess they have made for themselves but now that has gone.

This defeat will hamper their opportunities to make the signings their manager Ruben Amorim desperately needs to refresh this shambles of a team assembled before he arrived. It is a Frankenstein’s Monster of a side.

Ange reflects on snapping Spurs drought | 00:46

The struggle to revive United just got a lot harder. This defeat means they will fall further behind teams like Liverpool and Manchester City, who are not subject to the miserable dysfunction that afflicts the Old Trafford regime. This was a zombie final and now United will wander among the undead.

Pete Hall, writing for The Independent, captured the dour state of affairs after the full-time whistle in Bilbao.

“There was no consoling of friends. Nobody offering a shoulder to cry on. Just underperforming, inept footballers alone with their thoughts,” Hall wrote.

“Top of their concerns, other than a handful of more useful assets, is how they can go about convincing their employers to keep them for another season after limping to a 20th defeat of the campaign against Tottenham in their Bilbao or bust Europa League final. Or whether, in fact, they actually want to stay.

“... A disastrous season had the most fitting end. Manchester United are hurtling back in the opposite direction from where they are supposed to be heading. Unless Ruben Amorim is some kind of miracle-working footballing alchemist, United’s immediate future is bleak. More defeats. More redundancies. More misery.”

"As good as a goal!" Micky saves Spurs | 00:43

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand, meanwhile, believes a “disaster of a season” will make it hard for the club to land the top targets they desperately need.

“It’s been a disaster of a season which has ended on a bad note but I don’t think they did enough to deserve it,” Ferdinand told TNT Sports.

“I thought both teams looked scared to lose it.

“You can’t expect to win a trophy when you are playing a little bit reserved and conservative, you have to be brave in these moments. It’s going to be a long, long summer.

“That recruitment list they had will have to be scrapped now because they are not going to have Champions League football. It is a completely different list to recruit from.”

Click here to read article