New Manchester United manager given limited transfer budget for January | Manchester United

Rúben Amorim, or whoever succeeds Erik ten Hag as Manchester United manager, will have a limited budget to bolster the squad in January.

Having backed Ten Hag in the summer with £200m for five players – Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and Manuel Ugarte – there are only modest financial resources available to try and control the side's fortunes in the winter window change .

Although the manager does not have to sell to buy, profitability and sustainability rules mean that the books must be balanced through sales if he wants to spend more freely. Around £600 million was invested in building a squad for Ten Hag over the five windows of his two-plus seasons as manager.

Apart from Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Højlund and Kobbie Mainoo, who are listed as unsellable, United are lacking in quality assets, with Marcus Rashford, who could fetch around £60m, perhaps the highest value.

There are signs that Amorim wants the job and that there is talk of United agreeing compensation with Sporting, where his contract contains a €10m (£8.3m) release clause for such a move. Sources have said Amorim can be vulnerable to late changes of mind, but at this stage it looks like United should complete a deal.

Sporting play a cup game at home against Nacional on Tuesday evening and United are unsure whether they would use Amorim for Sunday's home game against Chelsea, even if negotiations with him and the Portuguese club are going smoothly.

United sit 14th in the Premier League after nine games with 11 points, eight goals and a goal difference of -3. In the Europa League they are in 21st place out of 36 teams after three draws in the first three games.

Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola expressed his condolences for Ten Hag. “I always feel sorry for managers who lose their positions, so I feel so sorry for him,” he said. “I have a good, incredible relationship with him; I think he represents Manchester United at the highest level behaviorally.”

Arne Slot, who played against Ten Hag in the Premier League and Eredivisie, believes his fellow Dutchman will soon get another job at a leading club. “[I know] How well he did at Ajax and that he won two trophies here, so I think we will see him at a big club again in the near future,” said Liverpool head coach.