Former Manchester United winger Nani recently gave an interview stating that the disciplinary issues at the club under Amorim would never have occurred during Sir Alex Ferguson's tenure.
In the past six months, after Alejandro Garnacho and his brother Roberto publicly criticized Amorim, the coach sold him to Chelsea for £40 million. Last week, photos emerged on social media of Mainoo's brother, Obi Martin, and Harry Amass making sarcastic remarks about Amorim, which led to Amorim publicly criticizing the attitude of United's young players.
Nani insists that Ferguson, who strongly opposed social media, would never have tolerated such disobedience. "It would never happen, not a chance," he said. “If someone needed discipline, he would suspend a player for a match, and they usually learned their lesson immediately. If you got into trouble for any bad behavior, you wouldn't play again until you corrected it.”
“You need to accept the rules and then follow them. For our generation, this was key - no one was above the club, no player, not Cristiano Ronaldo, not Wayne Rooney, not Ryan Giggs, no one. If your behavior wasn't good enough, you were punished.”
“This actually happened to me in my first few weeks. I played a great game and then didn't play for several weeks. I was complaining to Cristiano, saying 'Hey, I don't know why I'm not playing.' I knew there were things behind the scenes they wanted me to fix, and when I figured out what they were, I addressed them and trained harder. These current players need something similar: discipline and rules.”
“Yes, there were conversations in the dressing room because I think the whole team was mature enough. We had very responsible players like Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, and these veteran players would step in and resolve issues.”
“Usually it was about small things, but sometimes when a player wasn't giving their all in training or matches, some of the players I mentioned would talk to them and say 'Hey, come on mate, you need to do better.' This was a good mentality and philosophy, and it all came from the manager.”
“I think the most important thing is the mentality in the team, because when you have the right mentality, everything else works.”
Despite these issues during Amorim's first 13 months, Nani still believes his fellow Portuguese is the right man for the job. “I've said this before. He's young, hungry, always wanting to do better.”
“He has a bright future and has already proven himself to be an excellent coach. He has his own ideas and sticks to them. He just needs to continue learning because the Premier League is different from other leagues.”
“It's tougher than any other league, especially for someone entering it for the first time. We've seen a huge improvement from last season to this season, and I believe we'll see another leap next season.”
Nani was impressed with some of Amorim's signings, particularly Mbemo and Cunha, who were brought in from Brentford and Wolves last summer. “I think they're two players who have made a difference since joining. They've shown good signs and made progress. They're adapting to the team and taking responsibility.”
"Both players have contributed to the team and scored goals. I also like how they fight for the team on the field - these are the types of players we want to see at the club."
"Amorim is building a strong team, and this takes time, but we can see a very bright future, and these two players will be at the forefront of that future."
