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MANCHESTER UNITED have paid Sporting a fee to get Ruben Amorim early, SunSport can reveal.
The Portuguese has been confirmed as Erik ten Hag’s successor.
PABut he is set to remain in charge of Sporting until November 11, when he will make the switch to Old Trafford.
That means he will be in the dugout for Manchester City‘s visit to the Jose Alvalade Stadium on November 5.
United fans face a wait to see their new boss, whose first game will be the visit to Ipswich on November 24.
That is despite the club paying Sporting a £900,000 fee to release Amorim early, rather than waiting another three weeks.
Amorim is understood to have a 30-day notice period in his Sporting contract, which United have negotiated him out of.
Ruud van Nistelrooy will remain in interim charge until Amorim arrives so will oversee games against Chelsea, PAOK and Leicester.
It is understood Amorim will bring three coaches with him to Old Trafford – Sporting’s assistant manager Adelio Candido, assistant coach Carlos Fernandes and goalkeeper coach Jorge Vital.
SunSport can reveal he also wants to sign Sporting’s £70m-rated star Ousmane Diomande.
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Ruben Amorim is ‘Mourinho 2.0’ who turned Sporting from ‘walking dead’ into Portuguese champs… he can revive Man Utd
WHEN Ruben Amorim took charge of Sporting Lisbon in March 2020, one club official compared their situation to the “walking dead”, writes Jordan Davies.
Optimism and hope was at an all-time low.
But the Amorim-effect was almost instantaneous, guiding the Portuguese sleeping giants to their first league title for 19 years in 2020/21, losing just once and only conceding 20 goals.
Since then, Sporting have lifted another league title in 2023/24 – as well as two League Cups – and currently sit top with nine wins from nine this term.
He may be young, but Amorim already has an eye for rebuilding and revitalising fallen super powers with his infectious charisma and intense tactical philosophy that hardly ever wavers.
The “walking dead” at Manchester United must be praying for a similar sort of revival.
And they may just get it from one of the most talented young coaches on the continent – a man accustomed to breathing new life back into crumbling institutions such as Old Trafford.
Amorim has spent the last decade dreaming of one day gracing England’s Premier League, such was his admiration for an ex-United boss in Jose Mourinho growing up.
Often nicknamed ‘Mourinho 2.0’, Amorim spent a week with his coaching idol in an internship capacity at United’s Carrington training base in 2018, going on to cite him as his “reference point”.
United should not be expecting a mini-Mourinho, as Amorim said himself: “Mourinho is one of a kind. There won’t be another Mourinho. Mourinho is unique.”
And yet, you cannot help but compare the two.
For all the mismanagement in the Old Trafford hot seats over the years, this would be a real get – finally a slap in the face United’s Prem rivals have no answer for.
Amorim, 39, also becomes United’s very first head coach, rather than a manager.
That marks a shift at United following the arrival of Ineos and the introduction of a true footballing structure, headed by Dan Ashworth as sporting director.
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