Ruben excited for new beginnings

The Reds closed out a disappointing season on a positive note, on the final day of 2024/25, beating Champions League-chasing Aston Villa with a confident 2-0 win at Old Trafford.

Amad and Christian Eriksen scored second-half goals to give United all three points, meaning we ended the Premier League season in 15th position.

Of course, it hasn't been the season we hoped for at Old Trafford, as Ruben acknowledged in his post-match press conference - agreeing that he is excited for the season to end and to move on.

However, the boss took on a confident tone in his media debrief, and equally, stressed that he is eagerly anticipating the future, as he looks forward to pre-season and juggling his squad.

Keep reading for all of the boss's key quotes from his final post-match press conference of the season.

Ruben, congratulations on the win. In your end-of-season address you apologised to the fans, as you said you would yesterday. You also said you had to stick together. Clearly, before the game, there were protests, is that what you mean, or what do you mean?

"No, it's everything, it’s hard to point to one thing, in difficult moments, sometimes we blame each other, as a club, as a family, it’s normal. But we need to stick together and we will be okay, that's all."

After this season and you acknowledge the so many lows, what have you seen to give you hope to say that there are better times ahead?

"That, we have to see next season. I think we are, again, we are improving as a team, sometimes the results don’t show that but we are improving. Again, in the final, I think it was not a great game but if you ask anyone who is the better team in the game, it was us, that is clear. Today, we did a good game against a team that, with one point, could [have been] be in the Champions League. So I think we are improving. And then we are changing so many things in Carrington, there are so many things important in this club that the results don’t show, you cannot see it, but they will be really important in the future."

You’ve talked about the need for change a lot since you’ve come in and areas of weakness and things like that. Three years ago, Ralf Ragnick said the club needed open-heart surgery. Do you still think it’s as drastic as that or is it just…?

"No, I think we did a lot of changes as a club in this maybe six months and we change maybe so many things that a normal club could do it in three years, a lot of people leaving. And in the day-by-day, the way we behave, who is in charge in Carrington, who decides things, I think we are changing that. That is really important. If you look in the past, I think that was a characteristic of this club, the culture, the standards were really high."

Does the squad need changing a lot, do you think?

"It’s hard to talk about that because we have the Fair-Play rules and we are limited, especially this year. So we need to be patient. Of course, we are going to have changes, you saw three players today are leaving, and they are characters that we need that kind of character here, but then we have to see the characteristics of the player, to try to play in a different way, so we are doing that but we have to be patient because we have the limitation because of the Fair-Play rules."

Ruben, you mentioned those three that are leaving, Garnacho was not in the squad as well today and there were indications that you told him that he can find a new club this summer, can you clarify what the situation is and also just explain Onana’s absence?

Onana was just for Altay to have this experience and sometimes the goalkeepers nowadays, they need space to play, also to feel important, because we need two/three goalkeepers ready to play, especially when you have a lot of competition. And then Garnahco is a Manchester United player that is not in the squad today but is a normal player in our club and I have no news that that will change today.

Has Garnacho possibly played his last game for the club, I know you’re saying he could play the post-season friendlies, would you have him at the club for next season?

Sorry?

Garnacho, would you have him at the club for next season?

Garnacho is one more player of Manchester United, so I don’t know what is going to happen in the future, but he’s a normal player.

Are you ready for a break, or are you looking forward to start tomorrow all these changes that you have to apply and all these decisions you have to make?

"No, I’m really excited to finish the season, I’m going to be really honest with you guys, and really excited to start again. So we cannot lose any time, we need to prepare the pre-season, we will have this pre-season, if you look in the next years, we will have a World Cup, so we will not have time to take advantage of that. We have to make some changes in our squad, and we have a lot do, so I’m really excited in this moment."

Ruben, you’ve just said you’re looking forward to the break, obviously, you’ve got the post-season tour now. But can you understand why, when next season starts, you’ll be under huge pressure from the word go because of this season, how disastrous, as you said, this season’s been, can you accept and understand that that pressure will be on you, and the players, from the very first game?

"Yes, but that is normal, that is the risk when I start six months ago and if you start now, we can have a pre-season, prepare the future and then that season will be the first season. People will look at me as not just the first season, I have to deliver next year. I think we are going… I am really confident that we are going to play better, to have more results, but it’s going to take time. So we know that we will have to suffer again but of course, we need to have better results, that's for sure."