by Ruben Amorim is set to become Manchester United’s new coach (Image: GETTY)
Ruben Amorim has spoken out about his strong connection to the vacant Manchester United job, with the Portuguese tactician expected to replace Erik ten Hag in the coming days.
Amorim coached Sporting to a 3-1 win over Nacional in the Taca de Liga quarter-finals on Tuesday night. It is likely to be his last game as coach of the Primeira Liga giants, with whom he won two championship titles as coach.
But the 39-year-old, who also negotiated with Liverpool last summer, refused to confirm after the game whether or not he will move to Old Trafford.
“Nothing has been decided yet… I don’t know if it’s the farewell game or not,” he said on Portuguese television after Viktor Gyokeres scored two goals from the bench in the cup win.
In his post-match press conference he added: “I have nothing more to say, we are analyzing the game and anything I say will only create more noise. There is nothing concrete…”
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“I don’t want to fuel this issue any further. There is the club’s statement to the CMVM, apart from the fact that we don’t know the details yet, we’ll see… I have always taken responsibility for my decisions and will do so.” I’m here to do that, but when I’m sure of things it will be easier.
“Manchester United are interested. But it’s my decision. Until everything is decided, we will not make any noise. I have nothing useful to say. I’ll do whatever I want to do, like I always have.”
“What I know is that I will be in training tomorrow and preparing for the game against Estrela da Amadora.”
Amorim has managed 228 games for Sporting and won 162 of them. United will be hoping they can bring him into the Premier League in time for Sunday’s Old Trafford showdown against Chelsea.
But in the meantime, former striker Ruud van Nistelrooy has been appointed as interim coach and will be in the dugout for Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup home game against Leicester.
Sporting confirmed in a statement on Tuesday afternoon that United were in contact with them about their head coach.
Ruben Amorim’s Sporting defeated Nacional 3-1 on Tuesday evening (Image: GETTY)
It said: “1. Manchester United FC expressed interest in hiring coach Ruben Amorim, with the Sporting SAD board referring to the conditions set out in the applicable employment contract between the company and the coach, specific to the coach in question.” Termination clause and in the amount of Euro 10,000,000.00;
“2. “Manchester United FC has expressed interest in paying Sporting SAD the value of the above clause.”
That means any deal to appoint Amorim United will cost at least £8.3m. INEOS is also likely to pay to bring some of the former Portugal midfielder’s assistant coaches away from the Lisbon team.
When asked about his release clause, Amorim added: “I won’t talk about my contract, it’s a matter between me and Sporting.”
“All clauses contained in a contract are taken over by the employer and the employee. What I can say is that the statement contains all the necessary information.”
“Before the statement was released, I explained everything that happened to the players. There’s nothing more to say.”
Sporting striker Gyokeres, who had been linked with a move to Old Trafford before Amorim speculation, said of his manager’s future: “He’s here now. It’s not something I know, it’s not about me.”
“We’re focused, it’s nothing I know, and right now he’s here… we’ll see what happens.”
While Pep Guardiola has also offered his support to Amorim, he will face off in the Champions League next week unless United have a deal in place by then.
The Manchester City coach said: “All I can say is that I played against Ruben and his Sporting team twice and the pressure was really, really good.”
“I spoke to Matheus Nunes, who was his player, and he spoke very highly of him. This season he is unbeaten or has won all games in the Portuguese league, in the Champions League they have the same points with us.”
Man Utd will have to pay £8.3m to make Ruben Amorim their next manager (Image: GETTY)
“I feel like Man Utd, what I’m hearing is thinking about him because he’s a good manager.”
“Man Utd want managers at this level. With all the managers they’ve had over the last five, six, seven years, we can’t say they’re not fit to be at Man Utd. I don’t know what will happen.”
“What happens here based on my experience does not mean that it happens with the others, because the manager is the team, the club, the structure, the physiotherapists, the doctors, the players, it is many things.”
“What happened here doesn’t mean it will happen in other places.”
