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Manchester United are reportedly close to signing Ruben Amorim from Sporting Lisbon as Erik Ten Hag’s replacement, landing one of Europe’s rising managerial stars. The Red Devils’ approach is in line with that of other top clubs on the continent, such as Liverpool and Bayern Munich, who hired Arne Slot and Vincent Kompany respectively in recent months as a new crop of managerial talent began to fill some of Europe’s biggest vacancies. The 39-year-old Amorim is also being considered for a number of notable roles. His name surfaced at Liverpool before they hired Slot, and he held talks with West Ham last spring before they signed Julen Lopetegui.
Although Amorim is somewhat inexperienced, his track record during his six-year managerial career to date inspires confidence as United look to turn around after a turbulent spell under Ten Hag. Here’s a look back at Amorim’s managerial career to date ahead of his big move to England.
Trophies
Braga
Sporty Lisbon
- Primeira Liga: 2020-2021, 2023-24
- Taca da Liga: 2020-21, 2021-22
Individually
- Primeira Liga Manager of the Season: 2020-21, 2023-24
Managerial career
Casa Pia |
July 1, 2018-Jan. 7, 2019 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
17 |
3 |
+14 |
75% |
Braga B |
September 16, 2019-Dec. 23, 2019 |
11 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
27 |
7 |
+20 |
72.73% |
Braga |
December 23, 2019 – March 4, 2020 |
13 |
10 |
2 |
1 |
27 |
13 |
+14 |
76.92% |
Sporty Lisbon |
March 4, 2020 – present |
226 |
161 |
33 |
34 |
497 |
195 |
+302 |
70.61% |
Amorim has previously coached exclusively in his native Portugal, starting his career in 2018 with third division side Casa Pia. He resigned in January 2019 after receiving a one-year ban for giving instructions during a match without receiving the required instructions. coaching licenses, where the team also receives a points deduction.
The suspension was later lifted in September 2019, when he took charge of Braga’s reserve team, which also played in the third division. He won seven of eight games in three months before replacing first-team manager Ricardo Sa Pinto. He took over when they finished eighth in the Primeira Liga and took them to third place with ten wins in thirteen games. Amorim also led Braga to their first trophy in four years, winning the Taca da Liga in January 2020, and oversaw their first away win at Benfica in 65 years.
After three months at Braga, he got a career-changing job at Sporting Lisbon after they fired Silas. Sporting spent around $10 million on his release clause from Braga, making him one of the most expensive managers at the time, and the club finished fourth that season.
Sporting underwent a major rebuild ahead of the 2020/21 season, with future Bayern player Joao Palhinha and future Tottenham Hotspur defender Pedro Porro joining the club alongside a handful of others. Amorim won his second consecutive Taca da Liga that season and led Sporting to their first league title in 19 years, winning Manager of the Year honors in the process.
They won the cup again in the 2021–22 season, finishing second, with Amorim becoming the fastest manager to win 50 games in the Primeira Liga that season. The following season they finished fourth before winning the cup and league in the 2023–24 season. So far, Sporting has had a perfect start in the domestic league with nine wins out of nine and is in eighth place in the UEFA Champions League with seven points out of nine.
Playing style
Amorim prefers to play in a 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1 formation, establishing himself on the positional style through formative experience very early in his tenure at Casa Pia.
“His coaching career actually started at Casa Pia, then a third-tier club, where it ended almost as soon as it started,” said journalist Guillem Balague. according to the BBC. “He lost his first two games and, with pain in his pride and doubts, he announced that he would quit if he lost the third game. In the next match he changed the system and played a back three for the first time. The system worked and from then on he remained undefeated at the club. He also felt that he had found the formation that allowed him to produce the football he wanted – a football that was invariably linked to the spectacle for the fans. .
Amorimi’s teams love to possess the ball and have defensive stability that allows them to approach attack in different ways. They also build from the back, with the central defenders often serving as the starting point for an attack, causing the midfield to become overloaded. The front three, meanwhile, are flexible to rotate their position as they look for space. Collectively, Amorim’s teams also build a high-intensity press while out of possession.
The current Sporting manager has gotten the best out of a handful of players, a number of whom have gone on to play for bigger clubs. Palhinha and Porro are just two names on the list that now also includes Manuel Ugarte, who joined Manchester United from Paris Saint-Germain last summer. Striker Viktor Gyokeres, meanwhile, has been one of the breakout stars of this season in Europe so far with 16 goals and four assists in 15 games.
Although Amorim happened to spend a week with Jose Mourinho when he coached United before embarking on his own coaching career, the 39-year-old’s playing style is a variation on a more attack-oriented approach than Mourinho prefers. Instead, he views Jorge Jesus more as a mentor after playing for him for almost a decade at Belenenses, Braga and Benfica.