Manchester United

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

As the dust settles on the 2024-25 Premier League season, we have been taking a look at some of the alternative ways the the table could have finished...

A Premier League season can sometimes be a tale of two halves.

Some come flying out of the blocks, while others are more sluggish starters.

The busy Christmas period can be a turning point with the arrival of the January transfer window feeling like a fresh start.

So what might have happened if the league season only start on 1 January?

Well, Pep Guardiola's title-winning machines would have picked up their fifth Premier League trophy in a row.

Playing one game fewer than actual champions Liverpool - who secured the title with four games remaining - they would have finished one point clear of the Reds, not withstanding Arne Slot's side slowdown in form after sealing the title.

City always seem to come good after January, but this time it was not enough to outweigh the torrid time they had from late autumn.

The rest of the top six is not too dissimilar to the final placings, although in this case, Aston Villa would have secured Champions League football and Brighton a Europa League spot in the absence of Chelsea - whose form nose-dived at the very beginning of the year.

And while the new year is a new start for some, it is less so for others.

That was the case for many of those down the bottom of the league.

The relegated trio would still have been relegated and Manchester United and Tottenham would still have ended up in the bottom six. West Ham find themselves one place lower after Wolves picked up form under Vitor Pereira.

So what does this tell us? If you wan to achieve your Premier League ambitions, it is about making sure you are there for nine months and not just from January.

*Table data from Football365

Alex Fletcher
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Just 44 league goals were scored by Manchester United last season as they drifted to their lowest ever Premier League finish.

And while the signing of Matheus Cunha from Wolves looks set to be confirmed, there are plenty of forward players at the club with their futures in question.

Antony, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho all left the club on loan in the past nine months - seeking to revitalise their careers.

But with the season now over and the transfer window set to open, will they spend the summer looking for the Old Trafford exit door?

All three players have had their fair share of success since leaving Manchester.

Sancho scored as Chelsea were crowned Conference League winners on Wednesday, Antony has become a hero at Real Betis and Rashford helped Aston Villa to a Champions League quarter-final and a sixth placed finish in the Premier League.

Whilst Rashford's season ended prematurely with injury, he still managed 11 goals in all competitions, with Antony on 10 and Sancho five - after his strike against Real Betis.

According to Opta stats from before the Conference League final, Rashford (0.41) and Antony (0.37) have a better goals-per-90 minutes average than any other forward players in the United squad.

In 26 matches since the latter joined Betis, the La Liga side have won 13 games and drawn eight, losing only five. In that time they have scored 52 goals, with Antony contributing to 14 of them, supplying nine goals and five assists.

Sancho and Rashford both have eight assists this season, with only Bruno Fernandes (18) and Alejandro Garnacho (10) of their United team-mates getting more.

Both Rashford and Antony ended the season tied with Garnacho and Amad Diallo on three goal-ending carries each - the joint highest in the entire United squad.

Image source, Getty Images

While Sancho was let go by previous boss Erik ten Hag, it was Ruben Amorim who allowed both Antony and Rashford to leave on loan in January.

The former played just 252 minutes in 15 games under the new boss before departing for Spain.

As for Rashford, a disciplinary issue in December saw him dropped from the squad, before his own loan move in January.

Amorim said at the time: "I couldn't get Marcus to see the way you're supposed to play football and to train the way I see it."

"It's something that you feel as a coach and as a player. It's quite normal. It happened with a lot of coaches," he added.

All three still remain contracted to United, but have not gone on the club's post-season trip of Asia.

It has not been ruled out that they could be moved on to help ease financial pressure, ahead of a big summer for Amorim and the clubs owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

What do you think?

Use our poll below to decide who you want to keep.

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter in Hong Kong

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United wide-man Amad was put in a difficult position in today's pre-match news conference in Hong Kong.

The Ivorian is not the loudest or most expansive talker in the United squad.

Nevertheless, he was asked to speak at a time when a social media post has been uploaded showing him reacting to a fan as he left the team hotel on Thursday morning.

United officials told media before the conference Amad had reacted after his mother was called names – but not racially abused.

Amad was clearly uncomfortable dealing with the issue and avoided the specifics, preferring instead to say he wanted to bring 'joy' to supporters.

Prior to that, he was asked about his good friend Alejandro Garnacho amid an expectation the Argentina forward will leave this summer after being told by Ruben Amorim he can find another club.

Amad was barely audible as he offered the opinion Garnacho is a good player and Manchester United need good players.

I suspect Amad was quite pleased to get out of there.

Image source, Getty Images

Ruben Amorim "understands" fan frustration and said his players "cannot hide" after they were booed off in their post-season tour of Asia.

United's poor season saw them finish 15th in the Premier League, but they sunk to a new low on Wednesday with a 1-0 defeat to a Southeast Asian XI in Kuala Lumpur.

Those within the Bukit Jalil Stadium then booed off Amorim's side as they left the field of play, but Amorim doesn't blame them.

"Everybody can feel it. But I understand the fans [booing]," he said.

"It's clear that we cannot hide... if there is one thing that is really important in this club, it's that we need to face our fans in this moment and give something to our fans around the world."

Amorim, who took over from Erik ten Hag during the season but failed to spark an improvement in performances, added that his side was "not really focused" in the defeat.

The 40-year-old Portuguese said he had learned that being Manchester United manager meant being "more than a coach".

"You have to improve as a person, you have to improve as a leader. Sometimes after the games you see I am frustrated, I am trying to control that.

"When you have results, you can manage everything so much easier," he added.

United will now face a Hong Kong's representative team in another friendly on Friday.

Image source, Getty Images

The BBC's Ask Me Anything team have done all of the research ahead of the announcement detailing next season's Premier League matches.

The fixtures for the 2025-26 season will be released at 09:00 BST on Wednesday, 18 June 2025 and the release will include the weekly schedule of all 380 matches.

The season will begin with a single fixture played on Friday, 15 August 2025 and conclude on Sunday, 24 May 2026, when all matches will be played at 16:00 BST. There will be 33 weekend rounds of fixtures, plus five midweek rounds.

The exact date and time at which individual matches are played during each weekend will be determined at regular intervals throughout the season, based on TV selections made by broadcasters.

Read the full article here

The agent of Manchester United's out-of-favour striker Marcus Rashford met with Barcelona sporting director Deco, with the 27-year-old England international desperate to join the La Liga champions. (Sport - in Spanish), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Thursday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

We asked you to select your Manchester United player of the season from the four candidates chosen by our fan contributor.

And with the poll now closed, we can reveal the winner is... Bruno Fernandes.

Here's what Alex Turk at Turk Talks FC, external said about him:

Fernandes was understandably the favourite to retain his Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year trophy at the club and when he did, he joined David de Gea and Cristiano Ronaldo on a record four wins.

He has been a level above again, and deserves better than Manchester United's current depths.

See the final poll breakdown

Image source, Getty Images

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter in Kuala Lumpur

Image source, Getty Images

I suspect quite strongly Ruben Amorim cannot wait until Friday's final post-season encounter with Hong Kong is over and he is on the plane back to Manchester.

In his first week in the job, the 40-year-old spoke about how the media demands at United far exceed those at former club Sporting.

It is also pretty certain if the Portuguese club flew over 6,000 miles after their domestic season had ended, they would not get booed off by a large proportion of a 70,000-plus crowd, leaving Amorim to face the wrath of a hostile local media.

Yet such is the depth of knowledge about United among both supporters and media in Malaysia that Amorim is asked to explain himself even when there are legitimate excuses - the heat and humidity for a start - for a below-par performance.

Amorim mentioned the four Manchester-based journalists covering this trip (including me) on Tuesday, saying we demand answers. But it was journalists based in South East Asia who asked about the booing in Kuala Lumpur and also the lack of tickets sold in Hong Kong.

Amorim said on Tuesday he was excited for the new season. He will not be excited for long if results don't turn round.

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim says he needs to "push the players" and make them feel like they "need to win every game".

The Reds kicked off their post-season tour with a 1-0 defeat by ASEAN All-Stars in Malaysia - after which they were booed off.

Responding to a question about whether a "change of ethos" is needed, Amorim said: "We know that, and we talked about that after the [Aston] Villa game and we played quite well against a team trying to get Champions League. Today was completely different.

"My biggest concern is that we need to have the feeling we need to win every game, even a small side game on the street - every game, every exercise. That is what we have to do to push the players.

"The way I play is similar to other coaches - you have an idea and stick with it. I am just one more coach.

"I reached this level because I believe certain things so we will see. Of course, we need to improve the results - but I have the confidence."

Simon Stone in Kuala Lumpur
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United officials are putting a positive spin on their two-match trip to Asia, pointing out they are not the only club playing matches this week as Chelsea, Real Betis, Paris St-Germain and Inter Milan are also in action.

I am not sure two games against local sides in Malaysia and Hong Kong is quite the same as a European final, but the trip does at least give United head coach Ruben Amorim a chance to reset after a tortuous 2024-25 campaign.

United play a South East Asia All-Stars outfit in Kuala Lumpur tonight (13:45 BST) and then head to Hong Kong to play their national team on Friday (13:00 BST).

"It was important to finish the season," said Amorim. "We needed to close that chapter. Now I'm excited and I'm nervous - I want to work to the next season.

"I don't have a feeling that I need to disconnect - I don't need to rest.

"I just need to prepare for next season."

United have already made significant progress in their attempts to sign Matheus Cunha from Wolves, while a number of departures are expected.

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Not every contribution in a Premier League match involves sprinting or flying into tackles. Some players influence the game in more subtle ways - through positioning, awareness, and economy of movement.

Tracking data shows that certain players walk more than others during matches, often using these moments to read the game, conserve energy, or stay tactically disciplined.

While it might raise eyebrows, walking can be part of a smart, strategic approach. Let's take a look at the players who spent the most time walking during games this season - and what that might say about their playing style.

• Not a United fan? Find and follow your club here

Manchester United fans might be interested to know that incoming forward Matheus Cunha spent more of his time walking than any other outfield player in the Premier League this season, at 77%.

What makes that even more remarkable is that the rest of the top five biggest 'walkers' were all centre-backs, where biding your time and assessing the situation makes more sense.

Now Lionel Messi is known for walking a lot in games before producing moments of magic, so it is not necessarily a bad thing, but the question is whether what Cunha brings is worth the walking.

Is Cunha's skillset worth it?

And do you agree that he is a better footballer than Garnacho?

Have your say on United's prospective new arrival over here

Image source, Getty Images

Is Matheus Cunha a better player than Alejandro Garnacho?

BBC Radio Manchester's Gaz Drinkwater believes so, urging Manchester United to cash in on Garnacho in order to make room for new summer signings.

Speaking on The Devils' Advocate podcast, he said: "Garnacho came on in the Europa League final and did nothing. As Amorim said, that's all in the past now.

"Matheus Cunha is done, and will be a very exciting signing.

"Cunha is a better footballer than Garnacho, and so is Bryan Mbeumo. You're talking about 40-odd Premier League goals between those two.

"They're better footballers. Sign them, bring them in."

In 33 Premier League appearances, Cunha registered 15 goals and a further six assists. Meanwhile, Brentford's Mbeumo notched 20 goals from 38 league appearances, assisting another eight.

In comparison, Garnacho managed just six goals and two assists from 36 Premier League games.

Listen to the full podcast over here

Simon Stone in Kuala Lumpur
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

It used to be a feature of Manchester United trips to Asia that Sir Alex Ferguson would get asked in media conferences what he thought of the standard of football in that particular country and whether there were any players he was keeping an eye on.

Ferguson generally fell back on the catch-all answer that football was growing 'in this part of the world' and the standard is getting better.

In somewhere like Japan, he might mention a well-known player; in other countries he would just say there were 'a few' that he liked and left it at that.

Back in Kuala Lumpur for the first time since 2009, yesterday, it was Ruben Amorim who had to field the same questions.

He dealt with them pretty well.

"We want the best players in the world," he said. "If I see someone with real value and he performs he could be on our list.

"I don't have a lot of knowledge in this region. I know it is getting bigger. I know in Malaysia, you have football and badminton.

"But it (football) is a global sport and is improving in every region."