Man United youngsters hit back at Ruben Amorim in now deleted social media posts after under-fire boss attacked club's 'struggling' academy

Manchester United teenagers Harry Amass and Chido Obi responded to public criticism from Ruben Amorim by posting cryptic social media posts.

On Friday, when challenged about his limited use of academy graduate Kobbie Mainoo , Amorim suggested players such as Amass and Obi, both name-checked by the United head coach, are not at the required level.

'I don't know what is going to be the future (for Mainoo). Let's see after this match,' Amorim said.

'Amass is now struggling in the Championship. Chido (Obi) is not always a starter in Under-21s.

'All these guys played when a lot of people were saying sack the manager!'

While it was later clarified that the remark about Amorim was referring more to Sheffield Wednesday's league position - they are rock bottom of the Championship - young full-back Amass appeared unimpressed when posting on his Instagram story on Monday.

Harry Amass (left) and Chido Obi (No 9) have taken swipes at Ruben Amorim on Instagram

Manchester United have a proud history of promoting academy stars, but Amorim singled out Amass (left) along with Toby Collyer and Obi (not pictured)

In a now-deleted post, Amass shared a photo of him winning Wednesday's November Player of the Month award with a smiley face emoji. It was deleted within five minutes of being published.

Daily Mail Sport understands Amass' camp are far from happy with the United manager's comments.

Obi, who is currently sidelined through injury, responded in a similar fashion, sharing a photo of him celebrating scoring for United's Under-21s, a not-so-subtle nod to Amorim's remark that he is 'not always a starter' for Travis Binnion's side.

That post was also deleted minutes after going up, and Obi also removed all mention of Manchester United from his bio before adding the club back to it later that evening.

Obi, 18, is joint-top scorer of the Under-21s this season and a large reason for Obi not starting every game is the minutes split with Gabriele Biancheri. Binnion ensures rotation so both players get fair opportunity at No 9. Both have five goals.

Both Amass and Obi, who lived together in digs last season while both were at the club, were handed first team debuts by Amorim in the 2024-25 campaign.

Obi made eight appearances, seven from the bench, while Amass won four Premier League starts under Amorim from a total of seven appearances.

But Amorim's comments on the academy this season, and particularly the nature of the comments in recent days, have puzzled figures around the academy teams and it appears both players were less than impressed.

Amorim has been reluctant to hand out appearances to academy graduates this term

Kobie Mainoo has found out the hard way that Amorim prefers more experienced professionals

The Portuguese has included academy products Shea Lacey and Jack Fletcher in his recent squads but the duo have not seen any game time.

Under his tenure, only three players from the academy have been given first team opportunities: Amass, Obi and Tyler Fredricson - the latter has not featured since he was substituted at half time of United's Carabao Cup defeat by Grimsby.

Amorim also name-checked midfielder Toby Collyer, 21, who appeared to make great strides last season and was tipped to oust Casemiro, but has only started three times at Championship side West Brom this term.

Amorim has preferred to use experienced stars or big-money signings this season rather than call on academy graduates.

Kobbie Mainoo has fallen foul of this and is still waiting for his first Premier League start of the season.

The midfielder, 20, was denied a loan request in the summer and his lack of opportunity has attarcted the attention of club legends Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, and Nicky Butt.

But Amorim hit back: 'Sometimes they don't have all the information and they see Manchester United with the standards that they lived here, always winning. So it's hard for them to see their club in this situation,' said Amorim ahead of Monday night's clash with Bournemouth at Old Trafford.

'I take that naturally. It's a fact that me as a manager of Manchester United, I think we are underachieving. We should have more points, especially this season.

'The problem is that me, as a manager, I'm not doing good enough and I can accept that. So that is the only problem. Not winning is the issue.

'If I'm winning I can go to the games on a horse, arrive there, play with just two defenders and everything will be fine.

'At Sporting (Lisbon) there was no issue because we were winning all the time. So I understand and that's okay.'