New coach for ex-Bayern star
His curse doesn’t seem to end
January 6, 2026 – 7:27 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
Another coach at Manchester United has to go. It is far from the first time for a player to play under a new coach.
After just over a year, Rúben Amorim is history again at Manchester United. The Portuguese coach was relieved of his duties on Monday. The club’s management of the “Red Devils” has “decided with a heavy heart that it is time for a change,” it said in a club statement.
On the one hand, Amorim’s downfall was probably the poor number of points in the last few weeks, including a draw against Wolverhampton, bottom of the table. On the other hand, there were obvious tensions between the 40-year-old and the club’s management. Amorim recently criticized, among other things, interference from high-ranking United personalities in his work, which he would not tolerate elsewhere – apparently a no-go for the club bosses, who pulled the ripcord.
Ex-United professional Darren Fletcher will initially take over as interim coach. He is already the eleventh coach at the club since the departure of coaching legend Sir Alex Ferguson. Fletcher is also the 13th new coach for a professional – and he’s just 26 years old.
Matthijs de Ligt has been playing in Manchester since 2024. The English record champions spent 45 million euros on the transfer. De Ligt came to the north of England from FC Bayern – and was able to work under four coaches in just a year and a half.
It was Erik ten Hag who brought the defender to Manchester. But his term ended in October 2024. Ex-scorer Ruud van Nistelrooy took over for four games, then Amorim followed – and now Fletcher.
But regardless of his time in the United jersey, de Ligt has an almost uncanny track record when it comes to coaching attrition at his clubs. Since the Dutchman became a professional footballer, he has played under a different coach every season.
De Ligt’s particular curse began with the 2016/2017 season. In September 2016 he made his professional debut under later Leverkusen and BVB coach Peter Bosz. In the summer of 2017, Marcel Keizer took over on the sidelines, but he had to leave again in December of that year. Michael Reiziger stepped in for one game and then also relied on de Ligt in the league game against Willem II (3-1).
Shortly afterwards, Erik ten Hag, whom de Ligt would later meet again in Manchester, became coach at Ajax. Under the 55-year-old, the international became Ajax captain. Ten Hag also went into the 2018/2019 season, in which Ajax ultimately reached the semi-finals of the Champions League. In the summer of 2019, de Ligt then moved to Juventus Turin – and got a new coach there, Maurizio Sarri, at the start of the season.