Manchester United Manager, Ruben Amorim, Determined to Retain Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has stated his intention to hold on to promising young talents Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho, despite speculations about the duo being sold to help alleviate the club's financial difficulties. The team currently sits in 13th place in the Premier League, with Amorim only managing to secure four wins out of his 12 games in charge. Due to profit and sustainability regulations, the club is unable to provide significant transfer funds to the former Sporting Lisbon coach, who assumed his position in November. United reported a financial loss of 113.2 million pounds ($139 million) in the financial year ending in June 2024, marking their fifth consecutive year in the red.

As academy graduates, any fee received for Mainoo or Garnacho would appear on the books as 100 percent profit.

Reports this week said United were therefore open to offers for the pair, as well as a number of other recently acquired signings such as Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte and Matthijs de Ligt.

"I really love my players. I want to keep my players, especially the talented ones," Amorim said at his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday's FA Cup trip to Arsenal.

"It's a special moment in this club, it's a hard moment, but, of course, I'm really happy with Kobbie, he's improving, and also with Garna."

Amorim has previously admitted United's recruitment must be better and he stressed the need to also improve the club's academy to help save money in the transfer market.

"When we are targeting players, we need to be sure that they will cope with the demands," he added.

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"I also said we have to improve our academy, to bring young kids that fills the club in the right way, and also with that rules, we are able to do some business and have some money to invest in the team.

"Our idea is always to keep the best players and the players that we build for this club.

"We know the position that the club is in at the moment, but we will see. I'm very happy, I like our players, especially the guys from our academy."

Another United academy graduate -- Marcus Rashford -- does seem set to leave Old Trafford this month.

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The 27-year-old reportedly held talks with AC Milan this week, with other European clubs, including Borussia Dortmund, also interested.

Rashford has not featured in United's last six games and Amorim refused to be drawn on whether he could return at the Emirates.

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The Portuguese coach did confirm that second string goalkeeper Altay Bayindir will feature ahead of Andre Onana despite his errors in a 4-3 League Cup quarter-final exit to Tottenham last month.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)