Give me 4 years and Man United will be playing in Champions League

Ruben Amorim is still there, but the big question is — for how long. From match to match, the Portuguese coach is steadily losing the trust and patience of Manchester United’s management, and it’s truly surprising that he hasn’t already been dismissed. If he fails to beat Sunderland at Old Trafford on Saturday, that will likely be his last game in charge of the famous club.

And the line of candidates to replace him is quite long. The English media mention Oliver Glasner of Crystal Palace, Andoni Iraola of Bournemouth, Fabian Hurzeler of Brighton, as well as the free agents Xavi, Zinedine Zidane, and Gareth Southgate as potential successors.

Replacements for Amorim are ready, just waiting for him to be sacked

The former England manager has reportedly even sent his conditions to United’s hierarchy, in which he asks for — time and patience. According to The Sun, Southgate is open to negotiations but fears he won’t be given the calm environment he needs and that immediate success will be demanded of him.

For that reason, he has requested certain guarantees. He does not want anyone “breathing down his neck” and applying pressure while he works. If granted such conditions, Southgate believes he could make Manchester United competitive again for a Champions League spot within four years, the English newspaper writes.

But the real question is whether Old Trafford is ready to wait that long. The fans have been dissatisfied for a while and want to see their club back among the elite as soon as possible, not in the Europa League — even though United have won that competition once in the past decade and reached the final twice.

For United supporters, Europe’s second-tier tournament is not worthy of the club’s stature. This is not the first time Gareth Southgate has been linked with the United bench. The first was a little less than two years ago (February 2024), when Jim Ratcliffe became co-owner of the club, and again a year later when then sporting director Dan Ashworth wanted to appoint him instead of Erik ten Hag.

Ashworth and Southgate had worked together with the national team but failed to reunite at Old Trafford because CEO Omar Berrada outvoted them and brought in Amorim instead.

That only resulted in a 15th-place finish in the Premier League last season and a Europa League final, in which Tottenham came out on top. Currently, Manchester United sit in 14th place in the league. It would be a huge surprise if a victory over Sunderland is not achieved on Saturday and Amorim still remains on the bench.

That said, the Portuguese manager surely wants the same conditions Southgate has requested. His case will show whether such terms are possible — and whether Old Trafford is prepared to wait for a coach who, in one year, has failed to produce a positive step forward.

It sounds impossible…