Sporting CP have confirmed Manchester United are interested in hiring Ruben Amorim as their next manager and are prepared to pay his release clause.
The Portuguese tactician, 39, wants the vacant job at Old Trafford and has verbally agreed to become the new manager of Manchester United, who sacked Erik ten Hag on Monday. Talks between the two clubs accelerated on Tuesday, but whether Ruben Amorim is appointed in time for the Red Devils’ Premier League home game against Chelsea at the weekend is yet to be known.
Man United have reportedly agreed to trigger Amorim’s €10m release clause in his contract at Sporting CP. The former Portugal international may take charge of Sporting for the final time tonight—a cup fixture against Nacional.
“Manchester United have registered an interest in hiring Ruben Amorim and paying his €10m release clause,” a statement from Sporting CP said.
Ruud van Nistelrooy will take interim charge of the club following Ten Hag’s sacking and his first assignment will be the visit of Leicester City in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Wednesday evening.
Ruben Amorim agrees to become the new Man United boss
INEOS finally decided to part ways with Ten Hag following Man United’s 2-1 defeat to West Ham on Sunday, which added to a miserable start to the season for club. The 20-time English champions are currently 14th in the standings having won just three of their opening nine matches.
The club’s chiefs felt that Ten Hag was no longer capable of turning around the club’s fortunes after the worst start to a season in the Premier League era and decided to pull the plug on Monday. Following the Dutch tactician’s departure, INEOS have moved quickly to identify Amorim as the new face of their project at Old Trafford.
One of the best young coaches in world football, Amorim would arrived at Man United with a solid reputation, having guided Sporting CP to two league titles during his four years with the club. The Lions were without a league title for 19 long years and the 39-year-old ended their long drought whilst making the team one of the most exciting teams to watch in the continent.
A big criticism during the Ten Hag era was that his team lacked an identity and control on the pitch. In addition, the 54-year-old made decisions that left the fans and pundits perplexed, although his tenure’s last 15-18 months saw the team being hit with various injury issues.
Amorim must change that and provide the Reds with an obvious identity while bringing back the ethos of attacking football, hunger of scoring lots of goals and winning games. Having performed very well at both SC Braga and Sporting, managing United is a different kettle of fish altogether and the Portuguese has to show his best version from the first day he steps into Carrington.
I am Rohan Sengupta from one of the busiest cities in India, Mumbai. A Journalism graduate with a keen interest in sports, football is something I simply cannot live without and writing, discussing and analyzing the game is what I do 24*7.