{"id":638116,"date":"2026-05-12T07:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T07:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/638116\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T07:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T07:45:15","slug":"man-utd-close-in-on-signing-of-player-ruben-amorim-was-desperate-to-bring-in-and-be-key-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/638116\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Utd close in on signing of player Ruben Amorim was desperate to bring in and be key man"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manchester United are reportedly aiming to complete their first summer transfer – for a player who Ruben Amorim wanted to sign when he was in charge.<\/p>\n

Amorim was sacked in January after a 1-1 draw with Leeds United, having strongly hinted at disagreements with the club’s hierarchy during his final press conference.<\/p>\n

In the days that followed, various reports emerged surrounding his final weeks in charge, including a claim that he ‘blew up’ in a meeting with Jason Wilcox after the director of football had questioned his tactics and formation.<\/p>\n

Amorim was welded to a 3-4-3 formation throughout his time in charge – except for a brief switch to a back four in December – and targeted players to fit that system accordingly.<\/p>\n

With United<\/a> already having qualified for next season’s Champions League<\/a> under the interim management of Michael Carrick<\/a>, it has allowed the club to forward plan and secure the signatures of key transfer targets ahead of time.<\/p>\n

According to Sky Sports Germany’s Florian Plettenberg<\/a>, Elche centre-back David Affengruber is planning to leave the Spanish club this summer – with United one of five teams to have scouted him.<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Affengruber has made 73 appearances for Elche since signing in 2024 (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n

Atletico Madrid, Juventus, AC Milan and Sevilla are the other teams credited with an interest in signing the newly-capped Austria international.<\/p>\n

TEAMtalk previously reported that the 25-year-old was on United’s radar, and that Amorim<\/a> saw the defender, who stands at 6ft 1in tall, as a perfect long-term partner for Leny Yoro at the heart of his side’s defence.<\/p>\n

As it happens, Affengruber’s arrival might benefit Carrick – or another permanent manager – more than Amorim, given his versatility means he can also play at right-back in a back four.<\/p>\n

He came through the youth academy at RB Salzburg before spending three years at fellow Austrian side Sturm Graz. Elche signed him in 2024.<\/p>\n

Affengruber will be hoping to go to this summer’s World Cup<\/a>, having made his international debut in March. Austria have been drawn in Group J alongside Argentina, Algeria and debutants Jordan.<\/p>\n

It is claimed that his release clause – mandatory in Spanish football contracts – at Elche stands at around \u20ac20 million, which would be more than affordable for United as they look to prepare for a return to Europe’s top club competition next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United are reportedly aiming to complete their first summer transfer – for a player who Ruben Amorim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[3788,108738,7794,403,99,6641],"class_list":["post-638116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-manchester-united","tag-michael-carrick","tag-ruben-amorim","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}