Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim responds to Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Mikel Arteta Arsenal claim

Ruben Amorim believes Arsenalmanager Mikel Arteta serves as a 'good example' of how a club's fortunes can be transformed, though he acknowledges Manchester United face a different set of circumstances than the Gunners.

The Portuguese manager admitted he hadn't anticipated finding himself in this predicament with United, having expected victories to come more readily. The Red Devils boss shared his thoughts on Sir Jim Ratcliffe holding up the Spanish manager as an example, with the co-owner backing Amorim's capacity to deliver success at United.

Ratcliffe suggests the former Sporting CP boss can only be properly assessed after three years at the helm. The INEOS chief highlighted Arteta enduring a 'miserable time' during the early stages of his tenure at the Emirates, whilst the Gunners now lead the Premier League having secured second place finishes three seasons running.

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Amorim isn't seeking to draw parallels but respects Arteta's capability to reverse fortunes. "No, I think every situation is different, of course," Amorim told Sky Sports.

"We can hold on to good examples. Mikel is a perfect example because it took a lot of things before this kind of moment he is in at the moment.

"I was not expecting because you never expect. You expect to come here and start winning, and everything is fine. It's hard to say I was expecting this to happen but Mikel is a very good example about how to handle all of the things around football.

"But again, I think it's two different clubs, two different situations, and we need to focus on back-to-back games" said Amorim, reflecting on the expectations for Manchester United this season.

Despite finishing 15th in the Premier League last term and reaching the Europa League final, the 13-time Premier League champions are aiming for a return to European football.

However, Amorim doesn't consider this a measure of success for a club of United's stature. Instead, he believes they should be striving to compete at the highest level once more.

"We want to go to Europe, we need to return to Europe but we don't know what is going to happen," he admitted. "I don't like to call success going to Europe with this club. This club's success is to win the Premier League."

He continued: "What we have to be is honest with our fans that we are not in that moment, we need to be clear on that. I'm not going to call success going to Europe or finishing first eight or first six.

"That is not success. We need to have success in steps. Success in our club is to win the Premier League nothing less."