Sir Jim Ratcliffe is making Man Utd sensible again with impressively decisive Ruben Amorim approach

RUBEN AMORIM has responded to being linked with a move to Manchester United.

The Sporting Lisbon coach, 39, is reportedly closing in on a deal worth £8million to become Erik ten Hag's successor.

Just hours after Ten Hag’s dismissed on Monday morning, it emerged Man Utd chiefs were in talks with Amorim as they zero in on the Sporting boss.

But the ex-Braga coach remained tight-lipped on negotiations when quizzed by the media.

He said: "I was already expecting this question [about Man Utd].

“Obviously I'm not going to talk about the future, because otherwise I'll always have to comment.

"I’m very proud to be Sporting coach, that’s all."

To be fair, it was a hugely controversial VAR call in the dying moments that handed West Ham a 2-1 win.

And the first half from the Red Devils was impressive.

Here's how SunSport's Jack Rosser rated the players...

Andre Onana – 6
Very loose with the ball at his feet early on but soon settled.

Manchester United conceded from West Ham’s first shot on target, though given Ings’ deflected strike there was little Onana could have done about it.

Diogo Dalot – 5
Delivered one of the most entertaining missed chances you will see all season – doing so well to clip the ball past Lukasz Fabianski before smashing the ball high and wide of an open goal.

Despite that, had little trouble from those in claret and blue attacking down his side until Summerville was introduced. The former Leeds man tested Dalot a number of times with his pace.

Redeemed himself a touch with the header back in ahead of Casemiro’s equaliser.

Matthijs de Ligt – 6
Hard done by in conceding the penalty for what looked a soft challenge on Hammers striker Ings.

Restricted West Ham well for the most part but United never looked entirely comfortable at the back and a more potent attack could have caused much more trouble.

Lisandro Martinez – 6
Struggled at times to deal with the strength and direct nature of Michail Antonio, who tested all across United’s back line well until he was replaced by Ings.

Noussair Mazraoui – 5
Struggled to keep a handle on both Bowen and former Manchester United man Aaron Wan-Bissaka for the most part and was thrown around by Michail Antonio at times.

Having looked soft at the back he also offered very little going forwards down the left.

Casemiro – 6
Started strongly dominating in the middle but struggled to wrestle that back when West Ham picked up.

Was denied a first half goal by Fabianski’s superb save but got one eventually as he refused to give up and made sure the ball.

Christian Eriksen – 5
Some flashes of creativity in the first half but could not help United keep control in the second after West Ham perked up.

Marcus Rashford – 4
Entirely absent throughout the hour he was on the pitch. Played down the right he was easily managed by Emerson Palmieri who had little of note to do before the winger went off.

Bruno Fernandes – 7
Caused huge problems for West Ham and created plenty of chances which his teammates put to waste.

Fernandes made a fine run to meet a Casemiro cross but headed over the bar and had to watch both Garnacho and Dalot pass up huge chances after his good work to set them up – especially the latter, a wonderful looped ball to cut out the entire West Ham defence.

Alejandro Garnacho – 5
The young winger should have had two goals inside the opening eight minutes. One chance was rattled against the bar before a poor finish sent the second wide of the far post.

He continued to cause trouble down the left but faded as the game went on and crucially gave the ball away in the build-up to Summerville’s goal.

Rasmus Hojlund – 5
Drew a couple of saves from Hammers keeper Fabianski but neither looked too difficult.

The Dane was rather comfortably dealt with by West Ham’s central defenders and never looked too much of a threat.

Substitutes
Amad Diallo – 6
Added some life and threat to a forward line which had offered little after the break and lifted a clever ball over to Dalot in the build-up to Casemiro’s goal.

Joshua Zirkzee – 5
Claimed an assist but did not know a lot about it and struggled to have an impact from there on.

Victor Lindelof – n/a

Unused subs: Altay Bayindir, Manuel Ugarte, Jonny Evans, Ethan Wheatley, Harry Amass, Jack Fletcher.

SunSport's DAVE KIDD explains what's wrong with all the potential candidates to replace Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.

THIS is a mid-table squad at an underachieving club, with a lot of unwanted players on big money.

And Ratcliffe is an instinctive cost-cutter who may not pay top dollar to the next manager.

If this club wasn’t called ‘Manchester United’, it wouldn’t be an especially desirable job.

The good news for United is that their new sporting director, Dan Ashworth, is a very decent judge of a manager.

He has been instrumental in three previous managerial appointments — Gareth Southgate for England, Graham Potter for Brighton and Eddie Howe for Newcastle.

None were wildly popular at the time, all were conspicuous successes.

Interestingly, Ashworth’s No 1 choice for the Newcastle job was Unai Emery, who turned him down to stay at Villarreal but has since proved that judgment right by excelling at Aston Villa.

And the Spaniard would be an excellent fit for United — yet there is next to no chance that he would abandon Villa’s Champions League campaign to take the Old Trafford job, not least because he isn’t a stark raving madman.

Howe would be another good candidate to succeed Ten Hag but, although he has become frustrated on Tyneside, the Saudis would surely not allow Ratcliffe to poach Howe, as they reluctantly did with Ashworth.

Potter is available but his Chelsea experience and lack of charisma would make him a tough sell.

Which brings us to Southgate, who remains close with Ashworth and is an excellent man-manager who was seriously considered by United last spring.

Yet, despite having led England to two of their three major finals, Southgate’s reputation for over-caution was only enhanced during the Euros.

Mauricio Pochettino, passed over twice by United, is out of the equation having taken the United States job.

Thomas Tuchel would also have been a popular and gettable option - but England got in there first.

Likewise, Roberto De Zerbi, now at Marseille after his brief Brighton stint sparkled then fizzled out.

Kieran McKenna — a gifted former United coach who has won back-to-back promotions with Ipswich Town — is an intriguing candidate but the imminent vacancy may come a year or so too soon.

Marco Silva, the extremely under-rated Fulham boss, has been on United’s radar and should not be discounted.

Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, last season’s ‘next big thing’, was passed over by West Ham as well as Liverpool this summer and is not an easy man to pin down.

Zinedine Zidane, who has taken over from Alan Curbishley as a 20-1 shot for every Premier League job, is a ‘figurehead’ manager and not an Ashworth type.

Ruud van Nistelrooy, the former United goal machine who joined Ten Hag’s coaching team in the summer is the bookies’ favourite. Simply because he’s in the building and he’s Dutch.

So, yes, getting rid of Ten Hag is the easy part.