Just hours after the separation from Erik ten Hag, Manchester United are already being linked to his potential successor. Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim is said to be the Red Devils’ preferred solution.
“I expected this question,” Ruben Amorim said at a press conference on Monday afternoon, shortly after Manchester United officially parted ways with head coach Erik ten Hag and presented Ruud van Nistelrooy as the interim solution. “Of course I’m not going to talk about the future, because otherwise I’ll always have to comment on it. So it’s not worth it, I won’t comment,” added the 39-year-old, who is ‘very proud’ to ‘be a coach at Sporting’.
A few hours later, these statements would finally come to fruition, with The Athletic reporting that the Red Devils were seriously interested in the coach of the reigning Portuguese champions and current league leaders. Amorim himself is said to be impressed by United’s interest.
Is Man Utd activating the release clause?
The United officials are therefore already in talks with the Lisbon club, where Amorim has been under contract since March 2020 and until the end of June 2026. Meanwhile, the English record champions could benefit from a release clause in the Portuguese player’s contract, which would allow a transfer for a fee between ten and 20 million euros.
Should Amorim, who once spent a large part of his career as an active player at Benfica Lisbon, actually move to Manchester, it should be easy for him to settle in, at least considering the players available. In addition to Manuel Ugarte, who he coached at Sporting between 2021 and 2023, two of his fellow countrymen, Diogo Dalot and Bruno Fernandes, are also in the Red Devils squad.
The latter only recently commented in the presence of the national team on the success of his former club under Amorim, which the current United captain missed by about a year due to his departure from Sporting at the beginning of 2020. “Sporting hadn’t won a league trophy in 20 years, then Mr. Amorim came and won two”.
Bruno Fernandes was unable to assess at the time whether the coach would be able to repeat this success in a top league outside Portugal. “We’ll never know until he moves there, but I’m sure his qualities are there for all to see,” said the Red Devils captain, who may soon be able to assess Amorim’s abilities at close quarters.