Sofyan Amrabat wants to stay at Manchester United, but has he done enough to convince?

Sofyan Amrabat’s Manchester United loan period was petering out into nothingness by the start of May. The Moroccan international, 27, hadn’t started a Premier League game since Liverpool away in December 2023. His only full match was when he was asked to fill in at left-back in an FA Cup tie at Nottingham Forest. He didn’t shirk the request and United won 1-0.

Amrabat, who reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2022 with the Atlas Lions, was barely missed by United fans. In their eyes he’d not done enough to convince them otherwise when he was starting games shortly after his season-long loan from Fiorentina was confirmed. United would not have completed that had Kobbie Mainoo not been injured against Real Madrid in a pre-season game in July.

Let’s look at it from Amrabat’s perspective. Fiorentina knew he wanted to leave before this season started and prevented him from training with the rest of the squad. He thus spent the entire pre-season training alone and, because he wasn’t with the group, didn’t play a single game.

All the time, there was genuine interest in the midfielder and he received offers from eight clubs in England, Italy, Spain and Saudi Arabia. One club was a major rival and he spoke to their manager, but he held off since he was waiting for United to make an offer.

When the move went through and he came to Manchester, he was unable to play because of an injury picked up while training with the Moroccan national team. When Amrabat returned to fitness, he offered to play at left-back back because United had no fit left-backs. He just wanted to play for United. He was thus chosen to start against Crystal Palace in the League Cup, yet he’d not played a game for three months.

United won 3-0 with a good