Gareth Southate tipped to succeed Ruben Amorim this summer

Carlo Garganese

Updated: 22 Apr 2025 07:29 BST
4 min read

Man Utd have been tipped to appoint Gareth Southgate this summer in place of Ruben Amorim.

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Football presenter Richard Keys believes that United won't be able to trust Amorim to rebuild the club this summer, and that Southgate is the ideal man to replace him.

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Amorim risks being sacked at the end of the season after a disastrous five months in charge at Old Trafford, with the club set for their worst finish in Premier League history as they sit in 14th.

United are in the semi final of the Europa League but Amorim's position is very much under scrutiny.

READ MORE: Man Utd top scorers 2024/25

What did Keys say?

“The question is, would you trust him now, from what we’ve seen, to rebuild Manchester United with another £250m?,” Keys said.

Fellow pundit Andy Gray responded: “If you don’t, then who? That is the question.”

Keys replied: “Do you want me to answer the question? Gareth Southgate.

“He’s taken England to two European Championship finals.

“He understands a modern player and what’s required in order to make the modern player feel good about himself, his football team and the club he plays for.

“He’s a master of manipulation and motivation.”

© IMAGO - Ruben Amorim has struggled at Man Utd

Amorim has just a win percentage of 38 per cent since arriving at United.

This represents one of the lowest win rates in the history of the club.

Amorim enjoyed great success at Sporting Lisbon, winning two league titles and five trophies in total.

However, so far at United he has not got close to replicating his heroics in Portugal.

Southgate is out of work after leaving the England national team in the summer.

He announced his departure from England after Euro 2024 following eight years in the job.

The former defender made the decision after losing 2-1 in the final of Euro 2024 against Spain. That result signalled back-to-back final defeats in the Euros.

Despite heavy criticism over Southgate’s playing style and whether he maximised the ability of his England players, his results were consistently excellent over his eight years with England.

In four major tournaments he oversaw, England reached two finals, a semi-final and a quarter final.

Southgate is highly respected by Man Utd part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who considered the coach his number one choice to replace Ten Hag had the Dutchman been sacked last summer.

Ten Hag had been expected to be sacked after a generally miserable 2023-24 campaign in which - despite winning the FA Cup - Man Utd finished eighth in the Premier League and were dumped out of Europe at the Champions League group stage.

United held an internal review on Ten Hag’s future and even spoke to a number of potential managerial replacements, but in a shock development the Dutchman ended up staying at Old Trafford and extending his contract until 2026.

But a disastrous start to the new season saw Ten Hag sacked in November and replaced by Ruben Amorim.

Amorim has performed even worse than Ten Hag despite reaching the semi final of the Europa League.

His position is now under threat going into the summer, with Keys tipping Southgate to replace him.