LEADING MAN
Box office Ruben Amorim already has mentor Mourinho’s aura and can now match his Chelsea feats by sorting Man Utd mess
He faces one of the biggest test of his managerial life in the Champions League on Tuesday
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RUBEN AMORIM smiled when Man United’s soon-to-be manager was asked what he likes about the Premier League and said: “Everything”.
One of Europe’s most sought-after young coaches clearly wanted to expand on SunSport’s question here in Lisbon.
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But he found himself in an utterly ridiculous situation before he left the media room at Sporting’s training ground.
Amorim has promised he will be able to talk more freely about his impending job at Old Trafford after Friday's Primeira Liga match at home to Estrela Amadora.
Yet already, it is clear that this bloke is proper box office.
And it is blindingly obvious he is relishing the chance of getting to grips with English football.
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His pre-match press conferences at the club’s training base — the Academia Cristiano Ronaldo — are such a terrific watch that on social media, there is a countdown clock for each of his media briefings.
Entertaining press conferences? Does this remind you of another coach from Portugal?
Indeed, Jose Mourinho was 41 when he announced he was the Special One after arriving at Chelsea.
Amorim will head to Old Trafford even younger, aged 39.
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Mourinho’s birthday is on January 26, while Amorim’s is on January 27, but it looks as though he will follow in his fellow countryman’s footsteps in all sorts of ways.
Even though Amorim has been unable to confirm he is heading to England, his two press conferences since the United news emerged have been fascinating.
Sir Dave Brailsford appears to confirm Ruben Amorim deal to Man Utd fans as he leaves Old Trafford
He has a twinkle in his eye, a good sense of humour, answers most questions in great detail and is obviously a terrific communicator in perfect English.
He will certainly need those skills at Old Trafford, in both the way he deals with the playing staff, the board members and how he talks to the fans.
Mourinho often used his press conferences — in fact he still does — with a clear plan of what he wants to say.
He releases certain messages to his own players, opponents and the supporters. Amorim is the same.
Erik ten Hag handled himself impressively throughout his time at Manchester United but he was lacking in charisma.
Amorim has an aura, just like Mourinho.
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His career has been on an upwards trajectory so it has been an easy ride so far.
There have certainly been no touchline histrionics like a certain other coach.
It will also be fascinating how he deals with a run of poor results.
Or when he is thrown a curveball, like a star player doing something stupid like going on a booze bender in Belfast.
What is crazy, though, is Sporting president Frederico Varandas has insisted that Amorim stays for the next three games.
Firstly, Friday's local derby, then Tuesday’s home Champions League game with Manchester City and the trip to Braga on November 10.
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Amorim did not watch United’s win over Leicester on Wednesday because he was studying City in their Carabao Cup defeat at Spurs.
And this City match really is rotten timing for Amorim.
Despite boasting a 100 per cent record in the league, Sporting have also done well in the Champions League and are currently unbeaten in eighth place.
But what happens if Sporting are taken apart by City?
If Amorim engineers a famous win, then this will enhance his burgeoning reputation.
But if Sporting are thrashed 5-0 and Erling Haaland scores another hat-trick, which is hardly out of the question, then United’s fans will be forced to welcome a manager who has just been out-smarted by Pep Guardiola. Not a good start.
Ruben Amorim leaves Sporting on a high
By Charlie Wyett
RUBEN AMORIM would have preferred to leave Lisbon in a blaze of glory after winning a third Primeira Liga title.
Yet football does not work like that. And in what was surely his final game before taking charge of Manchester United, Amorim prepared to say his goodbyes at a half-empty Estadio Jose Alvalade in a League Cup quarter-final against Nacional.
Sporting won 3-1 thanks to second-half goals by captain Morten Hjulmand and Viktor Gyokeres, who scored two.
Luis Esteves pulled back for Madeira-based Nacional.
The stadium will be a good deal more lively on Tuesday when Manchester City are here for a Champions League match — although Amorim should by then have his feet firmly under his desk at Old Trafford.
Liverpool and Aston Villa were both interested in Europe’s most sought-after coach. Even City could have been a possible destination post-Pep Guardiola.
Yet the United job is one Amorim, 39, could not turn down — even if not everyone saw it that way at Sporting last night.
There is clearly a huge split in the Portuguese club’s fan base over their coach leaving at this stage of the season with many believing he should have seen the job through.
Yet Amorim, along with the three-man coaching team who are expected to follow him, leaves a club in a much better state than when he arrived here in 2020.
Inside the stadium, there was applause — albeit muted — when his name was read out before the game along with the line-ups.
And there did not appear to be any jeers when Amorim shuffled out from the tunnel awkwardly towards the dugout.
So, while his departure is hard to take for some, none of the fans will forget his legacy.
This is a club which is back as the dominant force in Portugal. Even this term, Sporting have won their first nine league games, scoring 30 goals and conceding just two.
They are also eighth in the Champions League table, which is one hell of an effort.
In contrast, Lisbon was not exactly hit by League Cup fever last night.
Amorim made lots of changes, which saw Sporting’s star man Gyokeres, the former Coventry striker, start on the bench.
There was, however, a first appearance in six weeks for former Tottenham winger Marcus Edwards.
He is certainly one player who has been transformed by Amorim since arriving at the club from Vitoria in 2022 and will be sorry to see the coach leave.
While he changed his team, Amorim stuck with his tried and trusted formation of a back three.
It will certainly be something Manchester United’s fans will have to get used to over the coming months.
But looking at the Premier League table, none of them will be complaining about the change.
Amorim often talks about stability and he was asked about the prospect of leaving his comfort zone at yesterday's press conference.
He was also quizzed about playing a part in his backroom staff enjoying life-changing pay rises by going to Old Trafford.
As for a change in scenery, he said: “I think all coaches need that.
“I don’t want to go into too much detail. Staff? We have very good conditions here.
“Six years ago we were at Casa Pia and we were almost paid to work. It’s not about money.
“When I said staff, staff involves a lot more people. Physiotherapists, wardrobe assistants. Not just the staff you’re referring to.
“It’s hard to find these environments. That was one of the reasons I always wanted to stay here.
“It was the people I work with. Stability.
“I think that in everyone’s life there are times when we’re doing really well, but then we want something more, maybe to prove something more.”
Amorim is about to get that chance.
The problem is that inherits a dysfunctional United squad, and one without an A-lister.
They could do with a player of the stature of the old Red Devils star who now has Sporting’s training ground named after him.
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Amorim, though, will be supremely confident he can sort out this mess at Old Trafford.
If he is able to do so, this achievement would be every bit as impressive as what Mourinho managed at Chelsea.
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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.
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