Ruben Amorim claims taking Man United job mid-season allowed his side to avoid ‘suffering’ – despite Europa League final defeat and dire Premier League campaign

Ruben Amorim is happy that he took over as Manchester United’s head coach in November because it brought forward a lot of the mistakes and ‘suffering’ the club would have faced next season.

Amorim wanted to wait until the summer to leave Sporting Lisbon after United sacked Erik ten Hag in October, but Old Trafford bosses told him it was ‘now or never’.

Trying to implement his 3-4-3 system in mid-season has been blamed as one of the reasons why United have had their worst Premier League campaign and failed to qualify for Europe for only the second time in 35 years.

But Amorim believes it has helped him to get through a lot of the teething problems he would only have encountered by waiting until June to become United boss.

‘In this moment, I’m really glad that I arrived six months before we started the new season,’ he said. ‘We are going to avoid a lot of mistakes that would have been in the next season. Now we can use all that suffering to change things in the summer – not just the players, there are a lot of things we need to change in our club.

‘We suffered a lot but I am really glad that I arrived six months before, it’s going to help me a lot in the next season.’

The former Sporting Lisbon boss has failed to turn around the club’s faltering fortunes on his arrival

But Amorim stressed the need for his side to focus on the positives following their Europa League final defeat on Wednesday

Amorim didn’t try to disguise how difficult the season has been for him and the players, as United prepare to face Aston Villa on the last day of the season four days after losing the Europa League final to Tottenham and still in danger of finishing one place above the relegation zone.

‘It is really hard, I will not try to convince you otherwise,’ he added. ‘It has been a tough season but we had the hope we could win something and that could help us. We need to get up to focus on the next game and have to finish in a good way. Then a new season will start and we will start with new ambitions.

‘These six months was hard for all the club, there have been so many changes inside our club. Sometimes it takes five years to change all the personnel and a lot of things, we changed coach in middle of season and the way we played. It has been really tough.

‘Now the part we need to enjoy, to focus on the future and be positive. We know what we want to do and how we want to play. That is clear. With all the mistakes, I know how I want to play. Now is the exciting moment that we can change something.’