Manchester United have knocked it big in their pursuit of new success by hiring the services of Ruben Amorim. The 39-year-old Portuguese strategist will join the Red Devils on November 11 under a contract that will run until June 2027, with the clause of an extra year. Forrester signed the young Nuno Amorim from Sporting Lisbon, where, over the years, he has excelled as a coach, and in just four completed campaigns, the club won two national championships.
Managers are quite caught of guard by the appointment because Amorim does not have much experience in European football let alone with top clubs in the continent. However, United’s decision shows that they are ready to take a risk with a young and energetic manager to turn things around at the club. His achievements at Sporting, where he stopped the club’s 19-year-trophyless streak and made the big two Benfica and Porto fiercely compete against him, have not gone unnoticed by the United hierarchy.
Speaking about the decision, United’s football director John Murtough said: “Ruben is one of the most exciting and highly rated young coaches in European football.” There is strength in youth hence he is known to nurture young players and also Manchester United will demand an attacking type of a manager. The club will be let off the hook after shelling out about 10 million euros to Sporting to secure the release of Amorim.
Amorim coming to United is a massive shakeup in the managerial force. At 39, he will be United’s youngest coach since the 1960s and a very different model to the glamour appointments of the past few years. The Portuguese coach has been given the most herculean task of trying to help the team return to its dominance after the team was frozen after the exit of Ferguson in 2013.
The new manager takes a team in the middle of the pack in the Premier League, having won only four of its first nine fixtures. This will be the first (but possibly the toughest) task of Amorim, to share his attacking mentality and regain belief in the group. The experience gained for Sporting – where he was superb in putting emphasis on an entertaining, high press football – will be vital in United’s transformation on the field.
His appointment came amid other changes at Old Trafford after British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS group took minority stakes in the club. This plan aims at bringing new blood and strengthened commitment to the clubs football operations. Amorim will have a close collaboration with the new leadership team to ensure that they have a sustainable plan of how they will transform the club back into the English and European football power house.
He will manage Sporting for the remaining part of the season and will join United as their new coach. His last matches with the Lisbon club – the match against Manchester City in the Champions League on November 7th. The first match for Amorim as United’s head coach will be the away match against Ipswich on November 24, so he can see his players in training during the break.
For Manchester United, all attention will now turn towards Amorim and whether or not he can replicate the success that he has had in Portugal for this highly popular league. The appointment is clearly an ADVANTAGE for United but one that is nevertheless a BIG RISK since Amorim will delight in Nev dozens of gambling houses if the Porto boss can do so.