RUBEN AMORIM will NOT be able to start work at Manchester United just yet, reports suggest.
When he was announced as the next permanent Red Devils boss, it was said that Amorim would officially take over the role on November 11.
With Ruud van Nistelrooy’s time in interim charge of the team now at an end after the 3-0 win over Leicester, the Sporting Lisbon boss is now the head coach picked to lead the team forward.
However, the 39-year-old – leading Sporting into his final game against Braga tonight – has not yet been granted a work permit.
According to the Daily Mail, this means he is unable to “get his feet on the grass”.
Many players will be away from the club on international duty, while the first game of the Amorim era will not take place until United face Ipswich on November 24.
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Amorim will not be revealed to the media until his pre-match press conference for that game.
However, it is expected that he will speak to club media before then.
The Mail report adds that the lack of a work permit is not a setback in his appointment, with this being standard procedure with obtaining a work visa in the UK.
The two-week break between club football will be used in an effort to get Amorim settled in England as quickly as possible, including finding somewhere for him to live.
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Five members of his backroom coaching staff are set to join him in swapping Lisbon for Manchester, which cost United an additional £4million after already paying £8.3m to buy him out of his contract.
It has left the future of Van Nistelrooy and other United staff uncertain, though the Dutchman has declared he wants to help the club get back to success in any capacity he can.
Following his four-game spell in charge, of which he won three and drew one, he said: “This block of four games, it felt like a closure and the future is open.
“I appreciated the clear communication of the club. It was an interim spell for a short-term. They kept me in the loop. It was four games, and for me it was important to have that clarity.
“The communication was after the block of four, there will be communication towards you and your colleagues.
“The most important thing is the football club. I am here to support that, and I want to continue that.”
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.
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.
Three Sporting stars Amorim could swoop for after joining Man Utd
RUBEN AMORIM has ruled out poaching any of his Sporting Lisbon players in the January transfer window.
But the Portuguese side’s chiefs expect Amorim will come calling in the summer – with his cheque book wide open.
Here’s are three Sporting starts United could swoop for… but they won’t come cheap:
VIKTOR GYOKERES
Age: 26
Position: Striker
Cost: £84million
Swede has shone since joining Sporting last summer from Coventry — catching the eye of all Europe’s top clubs.
Hit 43 goals in 50 games last season and boasts 18 strikes already this term.
GONCALO INACIO
Age: 23
Position: Defender
Cost: £50million
Ball-playing centre-back was handed his debut by Amorim and has since become a key figure in Sporting’s recent title successes.
Can also slot in at left-back if required and has 12 caps for Portugal.
MORTEN HJULMAND
Age: 25
Position: Midfield
Cost: £40million
Dane is one of the top holding midfielders in Portugal — and made skipper by Amorim.
He could be the man to replace Casemiro.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
