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2024 has been a good year for Manchester United: huge highs, desperate lows and everything in between.
In February, the buy-in of Sir Jim Ratcliffe was officially ratified. March was sensational then victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup in extra timebefore lifting the trophy in May – the same month they finished a truly disappointing eighth in the Premier League.
Erik ten Hag successfully kept his job and was even given a new contract as a sign of faith. There were also more new hires at senior executive level and a promising summer transfer window.
But the start of the 2024/25 season was bad. Ten Hag was fired, Ruben Amorim was hired, and sports director Dan Ashworth lasted only five months in office. This is not a quick fix and it will more than likely take time to build a viable new look sports operation.
Away from the field, there are plans for create a brand new Old Trafford to be the center of major urban regeneration, yet the club is also feeling the pinch financially which has resulted in spending cuts and major redundancies.
In teams struggling to fulfill their potential, the goalkeeper will often stand out. Andrew Onan he may have started wavering in the fall of 2023, but by the time 2024 rolled around, he was literally saving the day.
Football players will always make mistakes and as a goalkeeper I cannot hide from that. Unfortunately for Onana, a few crawled back towards the end of the calendar year, but this does not reduce his total contribution in all 12 months.
United almost started the Amorim era with a shock defeat to Ipswich Town but a stunning save by Onana, and the Portuguese manager remembered that two weeks later when he came out and hit his goalkeeper after a gaffe against Nottingham Forest.
“He saved us a lot of times so we have to find a way to turn it around and score two goals to help our goalkeeper the way he saved us at Ipswich for example,” Amorim said.
For Amad Diallo2024 was the turning point of his career at Manchester United. The Ivory Coast winger has been at the club for three-and-a-half years, but it’s only in the past few months that he’s been handed a regular opportunity – even after scoring a dramatic extra-time winner in that aforementioned triumph. FA Cup tie against Liverpool.
Despite flashes of what Amad was capable of, Ten Hag never seemed to really take to him. A start and impressive display in the Community Shield in August was followed by a gradual decline to the periphery – ostensibly due to apparent loyalty and shared history with Antony.
Redemption came under the interim management of Ruud van Nistelrooy and continued until the end of 2024. At one stage in November and December, Amad scored ten goals and assisted in a run of nine appearances in all competitions. As a winger, his game is not full of tricks and shots, but what is simpler and more direct is often more effective.
United are the worse team when Kobbie Mainoo is not on the pitch, which shows the level of influence the 19-year-old from Stockport has had since graduating from the academy. It was not only felt at club level, as there is a legitimate argument that he became England’s most important player on the way to the finals and Euro 2024.
Similar to Amado, simple done well is better than complicated done poorly. Through this, Mainoo became the backbone of the midfield around which United, in an ideal world, will soon build a project.
Maturity on and off the field for such a young player with limited professional experience is usually the quality most associated with him, such as humility and down-to-earth nature.
Rasmus Hojlund he has carried a lot of pressure and expectations on his shoulders since joining United in the summer of 2023. The young Dane was hardly a household name at the time, making the £72 million all-out deal for his signing from Atalanta all the more surprising.
He arrived with his back injury and it took him time to get back on his feet, initially life was easier for him in the Champions League. But Hojlund started 2024 in great goal-scoring form in the Premier League, netting in six consecutive games.
An injury setback then interrupted his flow and it’s always been a bit of stop-and-start since, although there is clear potential in the bulldozing centre-forward handled in the right way.
That was 17 goals in 42 appearances in all competitions in 2024, which is certainly a respectable return in the circumstances, even if it wasn’t outstanding.
Leny Yoro was apparently Real Madrid– tied. It made sense. He was a teenage talent who was already being compared to Raphael Varane, playing in north-east France – just as Varane did.
Madrid famously beat United to the signature of 18-year-old Varane in 2011, only to end up signing a mere shadow of the French centre-back a decade later. But this time the roles were reversed.
Yoro was declared a generational defensive talent, Lille’s first team at the age of 16. While Madrid hesitated, clinging to the hope that they could sign the youngster as a free agent in 2025, United went big to secure a £59m package to land him immediately.
A pre-season injury means fans are yet to see Yoro on a regular basis, but what he does represent is the long-term potential to be a world-class, all-time and player for now.
Nobody expected United to go to Wembley and beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
Under Ten Hague, the team just recorded a worst Premier League finish ever in eighth place and were set to miss out on European football, while City were fresh from winning an unprecedented fourth successive league title and were looking for a second domestic double.
It wasn’t in the script for Alejandro Garnacho to give United the lead in the first half, and even less for Kobbie Mainoo to put the spotlight on the score nine minutes later. City eventually pulled one back, but it was a performance from United that simply didn’t match the previous nine months.
The victory meant qualification for the Europa League, and it was all the sweeter against the ‘noisy neighbors’ who have been winning it for the entire last decade.
Although it is only talked about in the professional game, the vast majority of football teams do not actually win trophies. United fans have been spoiled in that regard for years, but even the club’s supposed ‘era of banter’ was still considerably more successful than most.
