Courted by Manchester City as Pep Guardiola’s potential replacement, linked at one point as Juergen Klopp’s successor at Liverpool, on the radar of Barcelona, Juventus and Bayern Munich.
His teams play high-intensity football, built a reputation for unearthing hidden gems, has a powerful personality and is known for high tactical knowledge.
Only 39, Ruben Amorim has been one of the most sought-after coaches in Europe. Now, the Portuguese manager is set to become the next manager of the troubled Manchester United, with the English club making public their intent to pay Sporting the £10 million release fee.
Although Amorim has said he is yet to make a final decision, Manchester United’s football operations department has convinced him to leave Sporting mid-season. If the move goes through United will have landed a massive coup.
Amorim’s reputation has risen considerably in the last few years after he restored Sporting’s lost glory in Portuguese football. He broke the dominance of Benfica and Porto by leading Sporting to the Primeira Liga title in 2021, the club’s first championship win in 19 years.
Since then, he has been on the watchlist of Europe’s elite clubs.
Overachiever as a manager, Amorim — who has made 14 international appearances for Portugal — had a modest player career that lasted 14 years. Hailing from Lisbon, he made his senior club debut in 2003 for Belenenses in the Portuguese first division before signing for Benfica in the summer of 2008.
There, he spent a major chunk of his playing career, making 154 appearances over six seasons playing in the central midfield and occasionally as right-back.
Amorim will succeed Dutch manager Erik Ten Hag at the Old Trafford, whose stint with United came to an end on Monday. (PA via AP)
An anterior cruciate ligament injury cut short his career and he retired as a player at the age of 32. He went on to complete his coaching qualifications and in December 2019, he became the head coach of the first team of Braga.
True to the tradition in Portugal, where clubs are not afraid of taking a punt on young coaches, Sporting poached the young Braga manager two months after he joined them and it proved to be an inspired gamble.
Amorim has guided Sporting to the Portuguese League Cup twice and led them to a second league title this year, winning 29 out of the 34 games to finish 10 points ahead of second-placed Benfica.
He’s achieved this by making his team play attractive, high-intensity football where the players press high — whether he can make the Manchester United players do the same remains a question, given how much Erik Ten Hag struggled to get his team to play a high-press game consistently.
Amorim’s Sporting usually play with a 3-4-3 formation. His playing style and the tendency to give a chance to not-so-known players have borne high rewards.
For instance, Sweden’s Viktor Gyokeres was practically unknown when he left Coventry. At Sporting, however, he has become one of the most high-profile strikers in Europe with a release clause of 100 million euros. Under Amorim, he already has 18 goals and seven assists this season.
Manchester United fans will have another reason to be excited. Manuel Ugarte, who signed for the English club for £60 million from PSG this summer, will be reunited with Amorim, who got the best out of the player when he was at Sporting.
All this made him a target for most major clubs in Europe, with Manchester City identifying him as Guardiola’s successor in case the Spaniard does not renew his contract which runs out at the end of this season.
On Tuesday, City pulled out of the race to sign him, further increasing the chances of United landing the young managerial prodigy.
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