RUBEN AMORIM was 25 minutes late for his press conference on Friday.
“I’m really sorry,” he announced. “Meeting. Video. Training. I did everything today.
“It was his fault,” he joked, pointing at the Manchester United press officer.
Better late than never, United are also eyeing a sixth game unbeaten.
After one home match within a seven-week period, five of United’s final eight matches this calendar year are at Old Trafford.
They have won four of their five home fixtures and Amorim reckons United’s best performance came in the one that they lost to Arsenal.
Their momentum could be halted by the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations, with United in dialogue with federations from Cameroon, Morocco and the Ivory Coast to delay the departures of Bryan Mbeumo, Noussair Mazraoui and Amad.
Eventually, the trio will take off for host nation Morocco and Amorim expects a “struggle” ahead of the squad management.
He reiterated United are prepared to block any requests to leave by Joshua Zirkzee and Kobbie Mainoo, and warned £50.75million midfielder Manuel Ugarte about his training form.
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“A lot of very good players come here and sometimes they struggle,” Amorim stated. “He is struggling in the moment.
“My job is trying to help him to feel as a player, like I felt when he was a Sporting player, for example.
“But it is a different world, and he needs to adapt, and he needs to improve, especially in training.”
Amorim has already eyed internal replacements to offset the AFCON issue.
Jack Fletcher, 18, was on the bench for the seventh time at Tottenham two weeks ago and Shea Lacey trained with the first team again on Friday.
Lacey, also 18, has been involved in England senior and Under 21 training sessions, having scored for the Under 20s against Japan earlier this month.
“I think it’s going to be hard,” Amorim admitted of AFCON’s December 21 start date.
“But then that is the good thing of the experience.
“We lived so many limitations last year, because we changed in January, and we didn’t bring the players, and then we had the injury of Amad for four months, all these things.
“So we are prepared for that even if it will be hard for us. But we have different baggage to deal with that.
“And again, I think guys like Jack Fletcher, Shea, a lot of guys, they can step up.
“And we can send at the same time a message to everyone here, in the academy, that this is the future.
“But we are going to struggle, and we have to be prepared for that.”
Amorim acknowledged he was “paying more attention” to the academy now it was in the midst of a reboot.
United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe claimed last month the academy had “really slipped” – a reference to its dated facilities.
Liverpool-born winger Lacey has been hyped up since he was 15 years old, but has suffered numerous injury problems and made nine starts in the last two seasons.
However, Lacey earned a place in Amorim’s squad for the post-season tour of Malaysia and Hong Kong and appeared in both friendlies.
Lacey missed out on a place in the pre-season tour squad but the Scouser has been injury-free this term.
“I’m really happy with him,” Amorim added. “I think he struggled a little bit with injuries, they did a very good job balancing his body.
“You can sense that he can manage more load during training, he has a lot of talent. But when they come here, they can sense the speed is completely different.
“So they need to spend more time with us to be prepared, because our trainings are hard.”
Amorim suggested the much-hyped Chido Obi still had yet to prove himself despite spending the final three months of last season with the first team squad.
Obi, who turns 18 this week, made his debut in February and appeared seven more times but he has predominantly trained with the academy this season.
Amorim reiterated Obi’s temporary promotion – enforced by an injury crisis – was “too soon” and reminded United’s youngsters to mind their attitude.
“We didn’t have a team that we can put a young kid with 17, that he will not struggle, or will struggle a little bit,” Amorim explained.
“It was completely necessary to do that. We have the opportunity and we seek that opportunity for the kids.
“So (Obi)’s one of the guys but I think he started too soon. And sometimes it’s hard to deal with that, with the kids.
“Because they think that ‘I’m already here’. No, you are here for necessity, and we need to be careful also with that, with the kids.
“Even to call a kid for the first team, they need to behave really well. If you don’t behave really well, this connection is really important.”
Amorim revealed a nutritionist for academy players had finally been hired.
Better late than never.
