Ruben Amorim drops hint on Man Utd transfer plans after missing out on Champions League

Ruben Amorim has revealed that Manchester United had been planning for life without the as they head into the summer transfer window. United lost the final to on Wednesday.

Given they sit in 16th place in the , 27 points adrift of the top five, the final in Bilbao had been their last chance to qualify for Europe's premier competition. Brennan Johnson's first-half goal was enough to condemn them to defeat.

United had been building up to a major squad overhaul in this summer's transfer window. Embattled boss Amorim had been hoping to bring in a number of players which may have helped him to turn his reign around.

But missing out on a lucrative spot in the Champions League means that United's transfer plans will have to be changed. The Red Devils had been closing in on the £62.5million signing of Matheus Cunha and a £40m move for Liam Delap.

Doubts are now likely to emerge as to whether United can afford to actually push those deals over the line. But Amorim has now insisted that club chiefs had already been preparing for exactly this scenario.

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"We have two plans for the market and we have to understand it is tough for a club like ours not to be in the Champions League," he said. "But we have to use the other side. We have more time to work during the week on the Premier League and that will be our focus."

"It's in the future, I'm not going to talk about the future. This loss, the pain of losing this match. I can see it was clear, we were the better team but then we managed not to score again.

"It's very hard to win football matches but the guys tried everything to win the game. In the future, we will have time to assess everything. I think I was always really honest with you guys. We didn’t perform perfect today.

"But we were better than the opponent, and the opponent also played. In the second half, we try everything – with the central defenders, with the players wide, crosses going inside the box.

"I think I’m really honest with you guys, so I expect the same and there are some days where I said we were really poor. I think today was not the day. We were not perfect. We have a lot to improve, but I am always honest with you guys.”

Missing out on the Champions League likely spells the end of United's pursuit of Tyler Dibling. The 19-year-old had emerged as a target for the Red Devils having impressed for , despite their dreadful season.

Saints will demand £100m for their wonderkid. It was reported last month that if United missed out on the Champions League, and the £80m in prize money that comes with it, a move for Dibling would be put on the backburner.

Instead, it was claimed that Amorim would prioritise signing a centre-forward and an attacking midfielder as part of his plan B. It is a plan that will now have to be activated.

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