Manchester United appointed Ruben Amorim on Friday, banking on a coach with no experience in Europe’s top flight to turn around the fortunes of the declining English powerhouse.
At 39, Amorim, who joined from Portuguese champions Sporting Lisbon, will become the youngest man to manage United since the 1960s and the sixth permanent manager since Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
He will take command on November 11th, after fulfilling his sporting commitments. He has signed a contract until June 2027, with United having the option of a further year.
“Ruben is one of the most exciting and high-quality young coaches in European football,” United said.
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United, 20-times English champions, have not won the Premier League since Ferguson’s last season in charge. Amorim’s task will be to revive the glory of a club that has fallen far behind the best in England and Europe – something that Louis van Gaal, José Mourinho and more recently, Erik ten Haag, who was sacked on Monday, did.
United are currently 14th in the 20-team Premier League, having lost four of their opening nine games.
Amorim, a former Portuguese midfielder who spent most of his career at Benfica, joined after United paid 10 million euros ($10.8 million) to release him from his contract with Sporting, which led him to win two Portuguese titles in four full seasons in charge. gain.
He has only worked in Portugal and has no experience managing some of football’s best players under the constant gaze of the world’s media.
However, Amorim ended Sporting’s 19-year title drought in the Portuguese league in 2021 by ending the dominance of rivals Benfica and Porto and also won the League Cup that year in his first season in charge.
Sporting also won the league last season and have won all nine league games this season, reinforcing Amorim’s status as a rising coaching prospect. In his only other top-flight role, with Braga, he won the League Cup in less than a season.
Amorim will end his time at Sporting with a game against Estrella da Amadora, on Friday, at home to Manchester City, in the Champions League, on Tuesday, and a trip to Braga, on November 10th.
Meanwhile, Ruud van Nistelrooy will be in interim charge of United, taking charge of three games before the international break, all at home: Chelsea and Leicester in the Premier League, either side of the Europa League tie against PAOK.
Amorim’s first game for United will be at Ipswich on November 24th.
He held talks with West Ham last season before the London side signed Julen Lopetegui and was also reportedly linked with Jurgen Klopp’s replacement at Liverpool before appointing Arne Slott.
Now he takes over one of the world’s most storied clubs, which has been in decline for the past decade and in crisis following the arrival of a new football-focused leadership team led by British tycoon Jim Ratcliffe.
Ratcliffe hopes to have signed the latest technical gem, with Amorim being United’s youngest manager since 31-year-old Wilf McGuinness took over in 1969.
Following Ten Haag’s appointment from the Dutch league, he continued United’s transition of appointing high-profile coaches such as Van Gaal and Mourinho.
