Every word from part two of Ruben Amorim press conference before Man Utd v Newcastle | 26 Dec 2025

Ruben, I know we’ve asked you a lot about Kobbie in recent weeks, but it’s an important time coming up with the transfer window opening, if he came to you and asked to leave on loan to get more minutes, would you consider letting him leave or, have the events – Bruno getting injured, the guys going away with AFCON – has that stopped you considering letting him leave?
“If we are not getting someone, it’s hard to leave. We are shorter. Even with the full squad, we are shorter for something that can happen here. And we are a club with a big responsibility. We are dealing with all these issues in your heads, in my head, in everybody’s head, we need to win every game, it doesn’t matter. There are no excuses. So, it’s going to be hard for someone to leave the club if we don’t get a substitution.”

And just on that, if you don’t add anyone to the squad in January, do you think this squad is good enough to finish in the top four? You’re only three points off it, right?
“I think it’s hard to talk about that. I think what I can say is that we have potential to do more, and I think I can do more with the team and I can help the team to be better. That I can say. If it’s top four, I think it’s different in our club. Everything around our club is not so simple as we have the talent to reach that. There is so much more than that in the team. So, the only thing I can say is that if we have the full squad, I think I can help them to play better and I think we can be better in the future.”

You talked before about the opportunities that Bruno’s injury gives to other players. When he comes back, is this Kobbie’s chance now to take – I think you talked on Friday about all the noise and the nonsense – is it now, after all this noise and nonsense, the chance for him to show what he can do best on the actual football field?
“Kobbie Mainoo will have the opportunity that he has all the time. He played in different positions, and we talk about the position of Casemiro, he can do that position. He can play, if you play with three [in midfield], he can play – like we played in the last game – the position of Mason Mount in this game, he can play there. So, in the future, he’s going to be the future of Manchester United. That is my feeling. So, you just need to wait for each chance, and everything can change in football in two days.”