Ruben Amorim renew fight with Man United legends Rooney, Scholes

Ruben Amorim has reignited his old feud with Manchester United legends after appearing to take another swipe at the former players who criticised him during his troubled spell at Old Trafford.

The Portuguese manager was sacked by United in January after just 14 months in charge, having overseen a difficult period that ended with the club finishing 15th in the Premier League and losing the Europa League final to Tottenham.

Amorim left with a 38.1 per cent win rate, the lowest of any Manchester United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson.

Amorim responds to former United stars

The 41-year-old came under regular criticism from former United players during his time at the club.

Wayne Rooney described some of Amorim’s press conferences as “very confusing”, while Paul Scholes questioned whether the Portuguese understood the club. Gary Neville was also highly critical of United’s performances during Amorim’s reign.

Now in charge of AC Milan, Amorim was asked about the support he has received from former Milan players and whether the club’s legends would give him time to establish his project.

His response appeared to reference his experience at United.

“I was in a club in the past with a lot of legends, and they have big opinions, and they talk a lot about things. They lived in a time that was completely different,” Amorim said.

The Milan boss insisted, however, that his priority is ensuring his players understand the responsibility that comes with representing the Italian giants.

Milan boss asks for time

Amorim has made a mixed start to life at Milan, winning two and drawing one of his opening three Serie A matches.

The Rossoneri were held to a 1-1 draw by Juventus last week after conceding a late equaliser, with their lack of attacking threat coming under criticism.

Amorim acknowledged that building a successful team takes time but admitted results will determine how much patience he receives.

“We need time, but how much time we have depends on the club and not on me,” he said.

“We have to build a foundation to win consistently and that takes time.”

The former United boss pointed to Arsenal, Juventus and Inter as examples of clubs that required time to build teams capable of winning consistently.

“To buy time, we have to win on Saturday. By winning, we will have more time to build our project,” he added.

Amorim also attracted attention during the press conference after using an aeroplane accident as an analogy for learning from mistakes before quickly acknowledging that it was not an appropriate comparison.

“If something wrong happens, we take a lot of information and we put it in training sessions,” he clarified.