If Manchester United are being honest about their finances then Ruben Amorim is already doomed

As Ruben Amorim has admitted himself, Manchester United have appointed a coach with only one idea. To be fair, it looked a pretty good idea during his four-and-a-half years in charge of Sporting.

That was a squad built to shine in his 3-4-2-1 system. They ran all over opponents, had specialists for some unique positions in Amorim's structure and got the inevitable results to follow. United liked what they saw.

The problem is that while Amorim has one idea, the squad has an entirely different one. There are no wing-backs in this squad, no forward good enough to play as the lone striker, not enough physicality, and nowhere near enough energy.

It would be fascinating to know how many of these players the 39-year-old would keep if he were handed an unlimited budget. I doubt we would need a second hand to count, as Amorim listed the players he could find a use for.

But therein lies the problem. United don't have an unlimited budget to reshape a squad to suit a coach with one of the most unique and rigid styles in Europe. They have the very opposite. Absolutely no budget to do anything unless they somehow create a market to sell one of their flops.

United insist that the money has run out, that a decade of waste in the transfer market has finally left them on the breadline. Five years of losses totalling more than £350m would suggest they are being truthful, as would Sir Jim Ratcliffe's swingeing cuts.

Ineos need European football to get the club's ailing finances back on track, but at the halfway point of the Premier League season, the focus is instead on avoiding collecting the parachute payments that come with relegation. United will surely stay up, but a season of mid-table mediocrity will leave the coffers empty for next