Ruben Amorim has no plans to wrap his Manchester United stars between now and the Europa League final in cotton and to stand on it: “It's better to play than to stay away.”
United is run in 15th place in the Premier League and has to navigate competitions against West Ham and Chelsea before they were facing Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final on 21 May.
The seasons of Manchester United and Tottenham depend on that showpiece in Bilbao – but Amorim is against the idea of holding his star names on the sidelines between now and then.
“They will play because it is sometimes better to play,” Amorim explained.
'What I will protect are the players who can get an injury. For example, Bruno, or the last match for Tottenham, but we have moved the game to Friday, Chelsea, so we will have time to recover.
'We also want to be competitive in the Premier League. Bruno does not have the problem of (credit table) any injury, but Harry [Maguire] has. So we will have to manage that, but they have to play. It is better to play than to stay outside. '
Amorim made eight changes between the two legs of their semi-final of the Europa League when they lost 4-3 away to Brentford.
Although there will be opportunities for academic products such as Harry Amass, Tyler Fredricson and Chido Obi, Amorim wants to keep the competition high by having his players compete in the competition.
“Of course they will fight for the places,” he said.
'They will be ready, excited, and that is the good, not only the final, but also to prepare the Premier League matches, with something in our thoughts that we can win. It will be huge. '
Amorim felt in Brentford that too many of his players already had one eye on the semi-final second stage, which United won 4-1 against Athletic Club in the night, and although the success of the season is on winning the Europa League, he does not want to throw the remaining competition matches.
“We can't save anything from the Premier League,” he said, “but I think it's a good thing for them [to play].
'We will not have many training sessions. They will fight for a place in the final in these games.
'I think we had some mistakes against Brentford. I felt that some of our players thought of this game. So we have to manage that.
'But we must also acknowledge that we are Manchester United. We also have to win games in the Premier League.
“We have to use every game to improve, even to prepare for the final, but especially to prepare for the future.”
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