Injuries have dented the confidence of Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez, who must compete for a place in a defence containing promising youngsters Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven.
Andre Onana’s pre-season hamstring issue gives Amorim an opportunity to assess his goalkeeping options but, in truth, unless 21-year-old Radek Vitek steps up, the choice will be to stick or twist with the Cameroon international given Altay Bayindir was given his chance at the end of last season and failed to impress.
It is a similar story in attack.
The pursuit of Liam Delap, who instead chose Chelsea, emphasises Amorim feels he can improve on Rasmus Hojlund.
Viktor Gyokeres, who played for Amorim at Sporting, has also decided against a move to United.
Ollie Watkins, who lost his place at Aston Villa when Rashford arrived from United on loan, has been linked with a move to Old Trafford. So too have out-of-contract pair Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jamie Vardy. They are all names to suggest United might be better off giving Hojlund one more chance.
But can Amorim trust that he is ready to fulfil the promise that prompted United to pay Atalanta £72m for him two years ago?
Hojlund himself has been linked with his old boss Gian Piero Gasperini at Roma.
But, as with so many players, turning vague interest into reality is not easy.
When he spoke to fanzine United We Stand last month, chief executive Omar Berrada said the pain of last season’s 15th-placed finish, the worst since the 1973-74 relegation campaign, was self-inflicted in the belief reward would follow.
“He’s suffered in the Premier League, and the team has suffered,” he said.
“But we saw it as an investment for the following seasons, because we were going to give time to Ruben to get to know the squad, the club, the Premier League, so by the time that we got to now, we’ll have had all the discussions about what the squad needs and the two-to-three-year plan to get to a squad that’s capable of winning the Premier League.”
There is still time before the opening Premier League game against Arsenal on 17 August for the clarity Amorim seemed so sure of when he spoke in Hong Kong to emerge.
But as of now, the picture is too cloudy for any United fan to feel confident about what lies ahead.
